Calf

1-30-14

Stupid fucking calf cramp.

I haven’t had one in ages. It started screaming at me maybe an hour after I fell asleep. It was before Ken had gotten home from soccer. It is significantly harder to jump out of bed when you are wrapped up in covers that are filled with kittens. I was tangled and panicked, trying desperately to not squish my kitties all trying to get my feet on the ground to stop the horrid pain I was in.

Sadly, the cramping pain still exists. My calf feels awful. I have always been prone to these cramps. I used to get them even when I was a little kid. I have actually gotten them in the middle of a soccer game before. I was at a tournament out of town and I remember clearly that at the hotel later I was made to consume a banana since everyone felt that a dose of potassium. Stupid bananas. Bleah.

The problem with a leg cramp like that is that I couldn’t get comfortable much of the night. I was terrified that my leg would spaz out again. Trixie was frustrated with my tossing and turning and was less delicate when she would scale my back to curl up on whatever side I was facing.

The good news is that is really the only “bad” news of the day. The boss is out today and tomorrow and tonight I am going out to dinner with Alyssa and Sarah. I am really trying to keep up my goals of seeing more friends more often. 

I think it is pretty safe to say that I will be taking tomorrow off to go work on Eydie. There is so much to do. I am not sure what I will able to work on, but I am sure there will be something.

Ken picked up the new locks for Steve. The new front door handle is so pretty! We will be able to go get new keys hopefully this weekend.

I did some reading on training tips for a flat coated retriever, which is what I am convinced Lily is. Turns out one of the things they recommend is to let these dogs carry something on walks. I had noted at the park she liked to carry a stick so last night I brought along a toy for her to carry. She proudly carried it maybe half the time. There is one section of walk she spit it out simply so she could eat the seed pods from this one tree, which I have to scold her on each freaking time. She also doesn’t consider this toy one of her favorites. We have a stuffed potato she is fond of, so we may need to try that. When she had a toy in her mouth, she got into less trouble. Who knew?

I am wondering if some of what I should do Friday is just transporting things from Eydie to Steve. That garage needs cleaning out quickly. I would really like to rent a truck and just fill it up. I could handle that, right?

Holes

1-29-14

I assume a day will come where there truly is nothing to get done.

Until then, I guess we keep pushing forward. Monday was active for me, and I was able to kick some serious ass on Steve with laundry and cleanup. I even had time to sweep, which was all negated yesterday when the hole happened.

Before we went and picked up the kids, I noted the dogs staring at the hose and a small hole near it. They looked to be studying it, and it was cute. Sure, it was suspicious, too, but I clearly have been with older pups for a while. I had forgotten the trouble a little puff ball can get into.

An hour passed and I walked back past the door and glanced outside where there was mud, puddles, and dogs covered in all of that. Turned out the powwow they were having with the hose was in fact them threatening the hose. Lily in turn decided to strike and put a hole into said hose. Luna didn’t really complain. She got to have water everywhere. The subsequent hold was massive from Luna digging at the water flow. Lily was cheering her on, caked in mud and clearly feeling very happy to have an adventure with her new sister.

In reality, it was all pretty damn funny. Ken took the dogs into the shower, and there still are muddy tracks from the pups going from porch to shower. The dogs are nice and clean now, but the house did take a hit. Time to invest in one of those cool hose holders. Plus, we need to make that watering hole for them. And lastly, I need to water and add some seed. The dirt in the back mixed with wet dog is just too much.

I need to go to Eydie today to see how the paint looks. My mom came over yesterday and told me how she thinks we should scrape all the paint in the kitchen. Of course, while we were having this conversation, Ken happened to be painting. LOL!! So we will see.

My mom assured me yesterday that I should not feel guilty that she is helping out. She told me she is actually really enjoying this process. My dad of course is more cranky, but he is allowed to be. LOL! My mom feels good that she can help and she is even blowing off Mr. Chin on Thursday to work. I clearly have given her an incredible gift for her retirement. I still feel bad, but at least I know that is on me.

The boss is back today, and most likely will be crazed what with close having happened this week and he was gone for those days. The good news is he is gone the next two. I am seriously considering taking off Friday to work at Eydie. We will see how it goes.

Trixie let me sleep on my own last night. I am guessing that means she cuddled with someone else all night. LOL!

Tonks is getting braver and braver. I am so proud of my beautiful girl. She comes out into the living room even when the dogs and kids are in there. She is holding her ground and both boys have been able to touch her for the first time. It was pretty amazing, really. I know I shouldn’t say this, but she might very well be my favorite. I adore her so much.

Luna and I took Lily on Monday night for a long walk. She really is getting better on the leash, and I really have to give Luna a lot of the credit on that. It seems like Lily watches Luna for what she does. I need to do some good sit training with Lily, but she actually sat at one corner for me when I only had to say “sit” once. I was pleased! She is a smart pup, and responds quickly when you scold her, so I know she will take to training well.

soccer season is over

1-27-14

No more practice till the Fall!

Ok, I know, what a rotten thing to say, especially since the loss on Sunday resulted in both of my boys in tears, but I gotta say, I do like having my evenings back. Plus, I would like to use some of the time to really get their homework done better and get my walking time back.

So yes, we lost on Sunday. It was a tough game. We did well, but the other team, a really good team from our region was on fire. They are a good group of kids, too, and the coaches are nice, so in a lot of ways, it made it easier for the loss. In fact, many of the families knew each other from both sides. Also, there was like a total of 8 kids on the field from both teams that go to John Adams, which is pretty cool.

Poor Dax burst into tears before the half, worried we would lose. It was awful. Bobby came off the field 4^th quarter and he was already devastated. It didn’t help that his teammates were also frustrated and tired and sadly taking it out on one another. At one point during the third quarter, I heard Bobby yell out, “I am doing that!” and he was pissed. He also had directed this at one of our players. I was turned in at this point, listening for who was giving him grief. In reality, I heard multiple players on our team snip at multiple players on our team. It was a group of 9 year old boys just overwhelmed. I couldn’t fault any of them, and if anything, I was incredibly impressed with Bobby holding his ground.

The game on Saturday was intense, and resulted in a tie, which was great. It was an amazing game to watch, and I was super impressed with our team. Those boys are great players. Even though we are done, we should feel proud that we were first place in our pool, and in reality, we ended the season with more points. Yay us!

Friday night, Stephanie and Sabrina came over, which was so nice to have non soccer people over. LOL! Stephanie and I played with the rainbow looms, which I am determined to master. It was fun! She also got to have some of the coffee made from my new coffee maker, which made me feel all grown up. I know, I am odd, but it is so nice to be able to entertain.

The rest of the weekend was spent at Eydie. Saturday after the game, the boys and I went to Lowe’s and got paint and we went and started work on the outside front. I managed to get a lot done before we had to go and get snacks for Sunday’s game and to go get Ken from the Hull where he was reffing. Sunday’s game was at 3 in the afternoon, which allowed us lots of time to paint and work. Ken painted the front with the sprayer and I worked on all the hand painting up there. I also climbed a ladder several times and did not break my neck. Yay! We also cleared out the kitchen and made it ready for paint, which my parents volunteered to help with today.

The back yard was filled with tree since we have to remove this one tree that’s root system is ruining the neighbor’s garage. It was sad to watch it go, but less upsetting since it isn’t like I am losing a tree I would see every day anymore. The good news with all of this, too, is that our gardener guy might know someone who can pick up all the debris. I had made appointments for people to come on Tuesday since Ken is supposed to have that day off. But of course, the one freaking time I get all proactive, Ken has stuff going on this Tuesday. Sigh.

We are making some good progress on Eydie, so hopefully we will get it all done soon. This weekend we have our AYSO powwow, which does mean we lose much of Saturday. However, we do have Sunday, which is nice. I really would like to get a truck over there to get those storage bins. It would allow me to do a lot of clean up in our garage at Steve. This means also I think that this week in the evenings I will make a point of going through boxes each night. It may mean more trips to Savers for drop off, which makes me strangely giddy.

Today my focus, though, needs to be on laundry. I have some standard domestic maintenance which will allow me to get the other things done over the course of the next few days. For now, I am stuck at work, so I guess I will just day dream about cleaning. 

Benadryl Coma

1-24-14

I itch.

The back of my hand, a spot on my thigh, and it feels like all over I have spots that are irritated. I don’t see any sign of a bug bite, and the only redness is most likely from me trying to combat the feeling each spot is radiating. It is super annoying. It was especially awful when in the middle of the night you have to keep scratching your hand.

Of course, every time I had to scratch, Trixie thought this was an invite for me to scritch her. LOL! She was very needy last night again. It is lucky for us that she is so tiny and cute.

I took a Benadryl, hoping it would combat the itch, but sadly all it seems to have done is put me in a state of twilight while I am at my desk. Seriously, you could probably remove my wisdom teeth right now and I wouldn’t notice.

Math night was not what I had expected. It was mostly designed as a way parents could go to hear a couple of the teachers talk about the new CORE expectations for math along with ways they are teaching, while the kids were left in the cafeteria with some other teachers and student volunteers from the high school. There were math themed games for the kids, and lots of estimation jars fill with various items from erasers to cotton balls, all with a sheet next to them that the kids could put down their best guess. The ones closest won a chocolate bar at the end of the night.

There was pizza and salad from Costco, which was of course nummy. Dax and I showed up early, which was cool since we ended up talking to Mr. Chin who asked if Bobby was coming. I explained the soccer practice situation and he assured us it would be great if Bobby could come right after. We got pizza for Ken and Bobby and they showed up right when everything got started, which was cool. The boys played their games, Ken and I learned ways to deal with how they are changing the system up.

I do love that the kids are not just memorizing numbers. That being said, I feel like I am enrolled in 3^rd grade math now because I am learning new ways to think about these numbers. Ken apparently learned all of this on his own, but some of us, most of us, are more like me in which we didn’t have this kind of learning experience. So helping our kid is more than just telling them the answer. We have to help them get to it.

Bobby has his speech today for room rep. I honestly don’t know how he will do. We wrote the speech quickly last night since we got home late from Math Night. He seems to think it only needed to be a super short speech, and he used his old poster, so it isn’t like he put tons of effort into it. That being said, I know he is well liked in his class, so who knows how this will go. I am so proud of him for running again despite losing last time. He must really like the idea of this, so I will encourage him as much as possible.

Lily broke the pet proof screen on the sliding glass door. Sigh. We really need to get some air circulation down there. As much as I love my light fixture in there, I wonder if we shouldn’t look into a ceiling fan. Or we just need to hook up the window fan better. Over all, I feel like we need to redo some aspects of the furniture arrangement down there. That could be the clutter yelling at me.

Stephanie is coming over this afternoon. Yay! She is going to meet Lily and drink some coffee from my shiny new machine. Hee! I think I am getting a manicure from Sabrina, too. Awesome!

Tomorrow is game time at 11:30, and after I am going to go start painting Eydie on the outside while Ken refs a couple of games. I need the front to be painted since I need some pictures so I can post them on the rental listing. I have people coming out on Tuesday to give us estimates on debris pick up.

Fuck you, Benadryl. Ok, no, you do rock in so many ways, but I really did not think about one knocking me on my ass like this. Fuck. 

Math

1-23-14

I discovered last night that I enjoyed an unflavored coffee.

I was all kinds of stressed yesterday for some reason. I am sure it was just because I had a lot to do and I was feeling high strung as a result of it. By the time the evening was winding down, I had this desire for something warm to drink. It was random, and I didn’t think coffee would be the way to make me sleep. I opted for some decaf coffee, figuring if it was gross I could dump it.

I really liked it.

I am no longer just dabbling on the dark side. I have made several trips and may end up being a coffee drinker for reals. LOL!

Math night tonight. I am curious as to what it will be. I would imagine it will be a lot of fun since it is supposed to encourage math and make It something we all can enjoy. Dax is crazy excited about it.

Very exciting Vegas news. Jerry gave the names of our boys to this one instructor that may need players to help on his class. It would be super fun to have the boys be a part of the whole Expo in this way. Actually, the more and more we are doing things, the less bad I am feeling about including the boys on things. Jerry told us to come to the volunteer dinner after skate night and to definitely bring the kids. The boys may also end up coming to the meeting on the 1^st with us. Really, it all depends on the plan for the playoffs. If they win this weekend, we would play on the first. Thankfully I seem to be one of the only people on the board who already prepped stuff for our day long pow wow and if I am gone for part of the meeting for a game, it won’t matter since I already met with Jerry on everything. Yep, I rock.

Trixie was being uber squishy last night. She decided she needed to be curled up with me like I was hugging her the whole time. It was really cute, but a bummer since I could not get comfy, forcing me to toss and turn a lot. Each time I rolled, she would come to the other side and set up shop again. I adore those little gray weirdoes.

I think I have to help Bobby write a speech this afternoon. He has decided to run for room rep again. I am impressed with how inspired he is about all of this. I really wish he didn’t have practice tonight since I think he would have benefitted from Math Night.

pipes

1-22-14

West Side Story is my new guilty pleasure movie. LOL!!!!

Yeah, watched that yesterday just for the hell of it. Clearly Ken had not watched it before, and it had been years and years since I had seen the goofiness that is that epic flick. Holy crap, it is a big ole dork fest. I was in heaven.

I have a soccer meeting with Jerry this evening at home, so I need to clean house. It won’t be a long meeting, but I still don’t want the place to be too cluttered. Plus, I love it when the house is clean. Really, it is like crack now. I really am turning into Monica.

The pipe work is just about done in front of the house. They moved the main line yesterday and I guess are filling holes today which means I will be able to park in front again. It has been kind of nice having these crews there what with the wave of burglaries in Torrance of late. I know that my house is well watched all day, so that is actually kind of nice. It will be almost too quiet when they leave. I know Ken will be happy if only because the big metal plates on the street will be gone. Those things are noisy!

Pups

1-21-14

I have a feeling I will be the enemy today.

I suppose that is what happens when you are in charge of accounts that don’t pay well and yet the sales rep wants to extend gobs of credit to them. It is a place I have been many times, but today I can sense people getting heated up about it.

I bathed my pups yesterday. They are all floofy and soft now, which was super happy making for me. In fact, I feel like my whole house was getting the floofy treatment. We did some cleaning before practice, including the kitchen “remodel”. Ken had put up on Facebook his own fundraiser for me in which I would end up with a wine fridge that fits beautifully between the fridge and broom closet, making for a perfect addition to that dead space. It allowed me to move around some things and make my kitchen look all fancy pants what with the shiny wine fridge, groovy coffee maker, and of course, the two floofy pups chillin with me in there.

We took the dogs to Wilson park last night with us for practice. I walked the park maybe one and a half times. Luna and I could have gone the full 4, but we knew Lily was not ready for such an adventure. She did love the paths we chose. She is still learning on this leash thing. She keeps jumping up and trying to play with Luna. There were numerous points on the walk in which they looked like elephants, what with Lily holding on to Luna’s tail as we moved along. Luckily, Lily could be distracted by handing her a stick, which she would proudly prance with as we walked along.

I took them to the duck pond, and they enjoyed that quite a bit. Lily was pretty concerned that a duck would come and kill her, but Luna was on high alert and was ready to protect us all from the quacking, floatation devices.

I need to get my dogs licensed for the city of Torrance. It is pretty exciting to be able to have them be all official. I know, I should have been keeping up with Luna, but let’s face it, there were more pressing things going on.

The boys are back to school today, which is good. They get another 3 day weekend this weekend, which is so unfair! Oh well. I took Feb 14^th off since the jog a thon is at the school that day. I thought it would be fun to help out. Plus, Dax is all pumped up to run the most laps in the 20 minutes. I am very excited to be his cheerleader.

Looks like the Brenans are going to Vegas. In March, there is the AYSO Expo that Ken and I are invited to attend in which we go to classes and get lots of freebies and whatnot. Well, it looks like the boys can come along! This will be fun since they have wanted to go to Vegas for years, which would allow us to take them and go check some stuff out! Yay! Sure, we could leave them with my folks, but quite honestly, I love the idea of us all going and doing the whole family soccer weekend.

Reaction

1-20-14

Fires certainly changed my weekend.

We were supposed to have two soccer games, but due to the giant fire in Colby, everything was postponed. The air was unhealthy and it was hot and dry out. There was no reason to make these kids play in that kind of conditions. We found out Friday night, which allowed for new plans to be made.

Friday afternoon did have us visiting the grave of Leslie Brenan, Ken’s older sister that died right after her birth. Ken never knew his sister, but he owes his life to hers. Had she lived, he would not be here.

Saturday was actually very productive. We were able to do some grocery shopping along with taking care of some chores and other domestic things. That being said, it wasn’t without adventure.

We went down to Blacksmith’s Corner to get the second round of vaccinations for Trixie and Sissy. We also picked up the first round for Lily. We have done vaccinations on Lucy and Breezer before and had good success. It is so much cheaper, and really, when you have as many critters as we do, you almost need to know how to do some of these things yourself.

The grays went fine, with only minimal meows. No struggles, just a little “hey!” from Sissy. Both of them seemed fine after with no issues. We then set forth to get Lily done. She also was incredibly easy and we had no fuss and let her go outside to get out the energy a puppy builds up after being held still for a few minutes. I let her back in and watched her try and play with Lucy.

It was maybe 10 minutes after injection when I noticed her rubbing her face with her paws. I noted her eyes looked red and Ken scooped her up and it was now red alert time. She was having a reaction to the shots. After some intense net searching and watching our poor pup’s eyes and mouth swell up, we got a Benadryl in her. We also set out for MBAH. Ken was able to reach Dr. Steinam and was able to keep a couple of docs at the office until we got there since they had just closed. Luckily, the Benadryl really helped and with a shot of some office grade antihistamines. She was doing so much better. I have to say, I was not interested in another black pup of ours dying there within a week, so I was so glad she was ok.

Turns out puppies get reactions to vaccinations more often than kittens. We had done nothing wrong and it could have happened at a clinic. The doc who helped us said for the next round to give her Benadryl before the shots next time as that tends to help. Boy, Benadryl really is a magical medicine. We have to give Lily a dose every 12 hours until tomorrow, but that is minor. That pup slept much of Saturday, but aside from a small amount of red around her eyes, you would never know she had an issue at this point.

On Sunday, we went and worked at Eydie part of the day. Ken put coat one on the back bedroom with paint and I worked on sanding the kitchen cabinets along with removing old shelf paper. We really need to get the dumpster and a crew to remove all of the debris along with a truck to take the things we are keeping.

The boys have today of and are going to Ken’s home school this morning. When I get home, I have intentions of bathing the dogs since I will take them to the park tonight during the boys’ soccer practice. With the drought upon us, I am going to need to curb Luna’s pool habits and reduce the pups to just a watering hole. Maybe Ken can make another one like we have inside to be outside. That way the dogs have fresh water constantly.

It will most likely be a boring day at work what with there being multiple people off today and I have to head over to an Open Enrollment meeting this morning. Bleah.   

needing a win

1-17-14

It is good the field trip is today because that kid needs a win.

The boys started homework at 3:30 when we got home from school. I got home last night at 8:40 and poor Bobby had only just finished.

While I was still at home, he and Ken had a bit of a rough patch with math. This new fangled way they are teaching kids how to do multiplication boggles my mind and over the past few days, we have mostly skated over the current method instead of walking him through how they use that style. Ken felt that he needed to learn this method and what ensued was some tear and frustration and use of all of my scented pine cones. In the end, I think Bobby understood better, but it was rough. I also had to intervene at one point when Ken was super frustrated. Bobby seemed to not be paying attention. I explained to Ken from the point of view of someone who has been there in terms of not understanding a math concept. It seems like we are not paying attention. It is just that our minds turn to mush and even the simplest things we knew the day before seem to run away screaming and we are left to look like an idiot when we now cannot come up with the sum of 1 plus 1. Yeah, it’s that kind of bad.

What took him the longest was actually a book. From what we could understand, they had groups in class in which they were reading this book. This isn’t a small book, either. Their group didn’t finish it, so they needed to finish it last night and then write character descriptions and a story timeline. Holy fuck! It was too much. Seriously. Now of course, I don’t know what the actual assignment was. Teachers in general are getting much too lazy with how they tell younger kids what is required. These are kids unable to finish projects in class and they expect them to relay all of the details of what is needed back to their parents? What the heck? Sigh. Hopefully it was a one time deal. The rest of the week was shockingly easy, so who knows.

I feel bad that I was out. I was chillin with Sarah and Riley. It was nice to see Riley and Sarah really needed to vent, which I am happy to provide an outlet for. It was also kind of surreal to be back at that house after spending a fair amount of time there when I was a kid. It seems smaller than I remember, but it is still a magical hobbit hole kind of home. Seriously, it is gorgeous. Sarah lives in the back studio, and as a way to get out of debt, it is great. The problem is, she needs to get away from her dad and sister. I really need to win a lottery. I would totally buy places for all my friends who are trying to get away from something.

After work today, before we go to the cemetery, I need to get my hair trimmed. I need about an inch, if not 2, cut off the bottom. It is fried there and I think it will help my hair in general. The only reason I hate getting my hair cut with just a trim is I get this strange urge to do something more drastic. But I am committed to growing my hair out, so a trim is what I need to do.

Bobby goes whale watching today, which sounds like fun. Ken is going along. Bobby is really excited. Dax will go next year as I guess it is what the third grade class does every year. Maybe I will go with Dax’s class.

We watched Lily and Luna do full on playing, and I knew that we did right by my silly pup. She now has a friend that she has craved for so long. I am so happy!

Coffee and Wine

1-16-14

Stupid smoke alarm.

Don’t get me wrong. I really like our new smoke detector system we have. It is loud, which means my kids could not possibly sleep through it, and it will tell you exactly where the problem is. It works well, too. During Christmas break, it went off because Ken had the car running near the open garage and the carbon monoxide alarm went off. We had a candle go all crazy on top of the stove one day and it went off. However, when it goes off at 2 fucking am, and doesn’t let us know why, I was not thrilled with it. Needless to say, I am kinda tired right now.

I going to Sarah’s tonight to hang out and see Riley, which will be fun. I wonder if Riley will remember me. I don’t know how much cats would remember a person who helped raise them. I won’t be insulted if she is indifferent, but I can assure you I will be quite thrilled if she is all excited to see me.

It looks as though we really only have 2 soccer games this weekend. One Saturday and one Sunday. It kind of sucks because I was hoping for Sunday to get a truck over to Eydie. We really need to get the place done. We still can do some work there, but it does make it less efficient.

Bobby has decided to run for room rep again. He is planning on using the same poster, which is fine with me. We told him he could do a new one, but he is pretty happy with the other one. Now I just need to dig it out from behind the piano. LOL!!

We took the pups to the park. Lily was pretty pleased, as was Luna who played catch with us. I do like that the dogs are well behaved and that the park is nice and open where we can have them sort of off leash for a bit. It certainly pooped out Lily, which was good, but clearly should have been delayed by a couple hours to allow for longer sleep times. That being said, she only whined a bit in the crate when I went to bed. She got all vocal when Ken got home from soccer, which made sense.

Lily adores the boys. I think she actually likes them more than she likes Ken and I. I will be curious to watch how this evolves. I know the puppy being in the house has certainly changed some of the cat dynamic. Lucy and Trixie were all curled up together with the boys last night. Sissy has been even more affectionate with us, and Monarch, well, it’s Monarch. That cat is so grouchy. LOL!

My coffee maker arrived along with the adapter that allows it to work with K-Cups, ground coffee, tea bags or the Vue cups. Yay! I don’t know how much coffee I will end up drinking (especially when it is freaking 80 degrees in JANUARY!!!!) but I like having things now that will make Steve a good house for entertaining. I really need to start like a book club or something. No, just hanging out sounds good. I will need to stock up on wine.

Skunk

1-15-15

Hello Mr. Skunk!

So um, yeah, I guess there is a little more wildlife by Steve. As I walked out to my car this morning, trying to not trip on the slightly slanted walkway, I came face to face with a cute little skunk. Thank goodness the little guy didn’t want to deal with me. Had he sprayed it wouldn’t have only hit me, it would have stunk up the whole house what with our encounter happening right in front of the open window to our bedroom. Yie!

I will be curious as to which critters we will have the first negative run in with. The raccoons will most likely manage to get inside just because they are crafty buggers, but honestly that seems less offensive than the idea of one of the pups playing with a skunk.

Lily took her first leash walks yesterday. We took the pups up to the school to get the boys. Lily did pretty well considering it was the first time. We luckily had a harness from the cats on hand so we used that for now. We will need to go out and get her a collar, but I think we will get one from Dollar Tree for now since she will outgrow it pretty quickly. I would like to start walking her daily, even if it is only short jaunts. The pups and I walked up and around about a blocks’ worth before bed, just to get out some energy for Lily. Luna honestly seems downright sedate now. Not that Lily is wild, but it almost seems like Luna knows she must be more grownup. It is really cute.

Ken is really suffering from the lack of sleep. He has a plethora of issues to exacerbate his insomnia. He has pain in his knee and elbow still. The new house sounds are still plaguing him. Now to add to all of this, there is a newborn in the house. I feel very bad that there is not enough I can do to help. I got up with Lily last night to have her potty. She is so grateful when I pull her out of her crate. It is funny. It sucks though because I would love to play with her, but it is super late and I have to get up in only a few hours so I must put her back to bed. But truly, she does pretty well in the crate. I am hoping to look up some tips since it has been a few years since I last crate trained a pup. Really, Luna never was much of a crate pup. She did a bit, but she mostly just prefers to crash out near us.

Maryann and Jean have decided to start the squat challenge now since I am doing it. I am on day 15, so I have 140 to do today and they only have 50, but it is still kind of nice to have inspired them. I am anxious to get to the gym today.

                                                                                                                            

RIP Lycos

1-14-14

Goodbye my sweet Lycos.

It was about as I had expected. I did keep thinking Doctor Steinam was going to look at us confused when he was checking for life. That old pup has fought death so many times I just expected her to not succumb to the lethal cocktail injected into her arm. She went peacefully and Ken, Luna and I said our goodbyes again before we quietly left MBAH. When we had arrived, there was a couple saying their goodbyes to a cat in the other room. It was a somber office yesterday afternoon.

When we had dropped off the boys to my folks’, they both started crying again. It was clear that the trip from their school to Gramma’s was all four of us being brave and not talking about what all of this meant. Dax hugged and kissed Lycos. Bobby didn’t know how to cope. My dad looked teary, too. I led the boys in and we left quickly to not prolong the day. In some ways I really just wanted it to be over.

I am now in strange place emotionally speaking. On top of sadness I am experiencing several other conflicting feelings that are colliding with one another at a startling rate. Guilt, worry, giddiness, affection, excitement, trepidation, and probably many others that I could find in the thesaurus.

The search for a new dog started months ago. I have talked to breeders, shelters, rescue groups and everything in between. I have dedicated searches that rivaled the intensity that I looked for houses with. Friday was really supposed to go better, but sadly it didn’t work the way I had hoped. Sadly, it worked out the way I expected.

Yesterday I once again checked all my sites, looking for pups that might work well for our home along with specifically for Luna. That dog needs someone to play with during the day. She always tried to play with Lycos. Side note-I didn’t like having to write that sentence in the past tense. Poor Lycos just hasn’t been able to keep up in a couple years. A pup that would come into our home would almost be as much Luna’s pup as it would be our pup.

I found an ad on Craigslist. It was a gentleman who had a black golden retriever. I know, that sentence makes no sense. Apparently he owns a black shepherd looking pup, who was like a lab mix of sorts. Fluffy, and very Luna like. The only difference is that she is black. The dad dog was a golden retriever, who was a friend’s dog who happened to be visiting. Neither dog was spayed or neutered, and both relatively young. Next thing you know, there are puppies.

I emailed the guy along with doing extensive net stalking to ensure this wasn’t some kind of scam. I couldn’t find anything to indicate this and the man emailed me back some pictures and information. I didn’t know if it would even come to a visit. He emailed me right after we picked up the boys saying they were available last night. We took a chance.

He was in a really nice area of Downey. Gorgeous ranch style house across from the golf course with a sweet family. When we knocked on the door, we were greeted by their daughter who couldn’t be much older than 5, carrying the pup who was almost as big as her. I scooped up this squishy pup and seriously, adored her. She was sweet and gentle, but with mischief oozing from her.

We were able to come in and meet the mom dog along with the sibling which was a standard golden that they were keeping. It was a house with 3 kids who were clearly very active with the pups. The little black one kept following Bobby with great interest.

We took the pup out front where Luna was able to meet her. Luna normally is standoffish with new dogs, but she was shockingly excited to meet this dog. They did the standard smell-fest and seemed interested in getting to know one another. It then started to get chaotic, what with Luna, two puppies, three little kids and giant leaves that the puppies were fascinated with.

It was decided we would get this puppy. I went back and forth on it for numerous reasons. Ken and the boys however gave me more good reasons which outnumbered my concerns. Ken pointed out that I wasn’t rushing. I have been looking and sending him links for dogs for a while now. It just so happened that this one was on the day Lycos passed away. Was it unfortunate timing? Probably, but is there ever a really right time?

Lily is now the newest Brenan member. She is really freaking cute. She slept a lot on the way home, curled up in my lap. When we got to Steve, she and Luna did the backyard exploring, which was sort of bittersweet. There was still some Lycos poo which must have been confusing for Lily, but at the same time possibly sad for Luna? Not sure, but it certainly was odd.

Lily introduced herself to Lucy and Breezer by walking up to the sliding screen door. Both the oranges looked at Lily, then at each other, then back at this cute little black nose and didn’t know what to do with themselves. It was at this point that Monarch sauntered up and simply let out his standard annoyed meow.

I brought Lily in so she could meet the rest of the crew. Trixie was shockingly curious. In fact, she almost seemed annoyed at the idea of someone else being the baby of the family. At one point, I was sitting on the floor with Lily and Trixie eyeballing one another with this odd desire to be friends, but it was as if they were really unsure on what to do with this desire. Trixie also decided at this point that Luna was not evil anymore. She approached Luna and even touched noses. It was odd, and endearing.

Luna was funny with Lily. Lily discovered Luna’s bed and thought that was cool. She at this point started playing with one of Luna’s toys. Luna seemed confused. She gently took away the toy which I think she seemed upset that Lily was playing with, but then later brought in all of her other toys as if to show Lily what they had. Considering these critters only had maybe a couple hours to get to know each other, I get the sense it will be a beautiful relationship.

Lily did better in the crate that she could have. At first she was upset, but she spent long times in there without complaint. I had a hard time getting to sleep and subsequently I am pretty dead on my feet this morning. Lack of sleep, draining emotions and having to deal with work will do that to a girl.

Thankfully today there is no soccer or other outings. I can get home and get to know our new family member along with making sure all the existing ones are ok with the new. I also can regroup from Lycos’ departure. Today will be long at work, but hopefully it will make my return home all the sweeter. 

It's Time

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I will really miss her.

The weekend luckily was busy enough that we didn’t have to think about this afternoon as much. Saturday was filled with some amazing soccer games. We not only won both games, we won by enough points that we are sitting in a position in which if all goes well on Saturday this week we will go on to Region Playoffs, which is pretty cool. Don’t get me wrong, on one hand I am so done, but, I really adore these boys and it has been extremely fun to watch them play. Both games on Saturday were intense. Bobby did well, but since he is not the best player, he only plays half the game. I would be upset except he actually cheers when he isn’t playing. Ding dong child of mine.

Friday was quite frustrating. I ended up taking the day off and Ken and I drove out to Lancaster. The web site for the shelter indicated there were multiple puppies that we were interested in. The long drive also meant that we could not stick around to watch Bobby get the citizenship award that morning. I was guilty, but he seemed ok with it what with us searching for a puppy.

We had called the day I saw the one pup online. They told us she was available starting Friday, hence the drive. We got out there when it opened, were helped first, and then told the puppy was already spoken for. What??? Apparently you can go in and pretty much “hold” a dog. You can essentially fill out a commitment to adopt. Of course none of this was told to us. We drove all the way out there for nothing. Not to mention that all the dogs out in their facilities that we liked were also all spoken for, and it was not noted on the cages, which was equally frustrating. We also had to watch this chick from a rescue group be given the opportunity to come in early, and she bragged how she was pulling like 10 dogs that day. Mind you, none of the ones she was going to pull were dogs like Pits, the ones who were most likely to be euthanized. It was all kinds of frustrating and once again I am back to looking at breeders.

Sunday took us to Eydie where Ken and Bobby worked on grouting the front tile and Dax and I worked on everything from papering the back bedroom for paint and taking out some garage things. Ken and I moved out the old stove and got the fridge out of the kitchen so we could tile in there. We still have a fair amount of work to do, but hopefully we can get it done soon. I would like to have it done by the end of January. Today I am supposed to look into listing it online for rent.

Today will be long. In some ways I just want it to be done with. In other ways, I wish it could go slow. I can’t concentrate. 

Lycos

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Dead Dog Walking.

Ok, I know, this isn’t a time to joke, but it is a perfectly reasonable way to deal with grief. Especially when said sadness will truly be hard to get past.

Ken and I always said that Lycos would be the first pet the boys would understand death with. There were other cats who died while they were little, but they didn’t know them the same way they know Lycos. We have been discussing this time for years, but really over the last couple weeks it became very apparent just how much we don’t want our sweet pup to suffer. Her quality of life has diminished greatly and it doesn’t seem fair to keep her around and watch her deteriorate to the point of crippling pain.

Ken made the appointment and Lycos goes to Doctor Steinam Monday afternoon. I will be making arrangements for the boys to be dropped off at my parents’ house on the way.

We sat around the dinner table, eating our dinner and it was mentioned casually that Lycos was to be euthanized next week. The boys had questions in their eyes and were unsure of how to process this data. We talked about it a lot, and it was about 10 minutes in when I noted the quivering lips and brave eyes that tried to keep the tears at bay. I instantly called them over where they burst into tears. I knew it would be hard, but you never know just how hard until you are in the midst of it.

We told them it was ok to be sad. We also tried to explain our decision and how it wasn’t made lightly. One of the things that was pointed out was that it would be awful for one of them to be the one to have to find her out in the backyard already cold. I told them how my last memory of one of my favorite cats is that of her terrified look that was frozen on her face after she had passed. She had died alone, and we don’t want that to be the case with Lycos.

We picked up some canned pumpkin for the pups for dinner. Lycos was quite pleased. It was much easier to consume what with her teeth failing her more and more. I would take her to the park tonight for soccer practice, but it will most likely be too much for her. Instead, we can take her on Sunday, when we have more time to spend with her.

In a sad timing situation, we may have found a puppy. I have wanted to get a friend for Luna for a while. I am always looking at shelters or rescue groups or breeders in the area. We had pretty much settled on going to a breeder of Bermese Mountain Dogs since I have fallen deeply in love with them. This would mean saving up and finding a reputable breeder and all that jazz, which isn’t all bad. However, I have kept my eyes open for other options. Yesterday, I came across the LA County revamped shelter page which had all of their animals for all the shelters they run. Turns out if you go a couple hours away, you end up with a lot more choices of dog breed. In Lancaster, they had several lab pups, including one that comes available tomorrow that is only 3 months old. Ken and I have decided to drive out in the morning after we drop the boys off and go see if she would be a good addition to the Brenan family. Luna will be coming with us, too, since she has a hand (or a paw) in all of this.

It seems wrong to be looking at new pups when not only is the body not cold, but hell, it is still walking. However, I know that I am not doing this to be disrespectful. Opportunity sometimes comes at strange times, and a shelter puppy is a much better option than a breeder pup for a number of reasons. I did point out to Ken that if we adopt this pup, she will most likely be ready to pick up on Monday morning, which just seems wrong to go get the new dog the same day the old dog dies. Strange timing all around.

I have soccer reports to create, which I am sure I can get them done this morning. There is soccer practice this evening along with the board meeting. I have plans to do my park walk still tonight and then after practice, drop the boys and dog off and head to the meeting. I really should just call out tomorrow.

The drive tomorrow will also have to be quick since we need to get back to the school by noon thirty. Bobby’s Pilot of the Week lunch is tomorrow and we get to come. He doesn’t know I will be coming, too. We will need to get there and back in 4 hours. Sheesh! Cutting it close, peeps! 

Someone robbed my folks!

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Someone robbed my folks!

My mom was at the school much of the day, and my dad at home, working on a new garage door opener. He went out for a steam in the afternoon and when they returned, probably not super long after, they discovered the theft.

They took all three iPads, which although upset my folks, I know Matt will have taken it worse than anyone. He didn’t know yet when I spoke to my mom. It looks like Matt actually got hit the worst, what with his iPad and what appears to have been a radio or something else from his room. They made a mess, looking for things quickly. They took a little cash, but left my mom’s laptop. It is very possible that they had been watching for my dad to leave since they went in through the garage door that was not hooked up to the opener at the time. My mom told me that there had been a seedy group of people hanging around on the block, which sadly doesn’t surprise me. My parents’ house is awesome, yet has always seemed to be surrounded by the worst neighbors in all of Redondo Beach.

I feel horrible about it. I wish there was something I could do. Matt and my dad had not signed up for the cloud on their pads. My dad had the brand new Air variety and just had not signed up yet. I don’t know what the deal is with Matt. Luckily, they are all really good about software updates, and they all had passwords. It still sucks. I wish I had enough money to get them all new ones.

It was the black cloud that came over the really fantastic day that I had. I kicked some ass in the gym at work, along with rocking my squat challenge. When I got home, I ended up cleaning a lot, painting this one trim piece we needed to do, and got the house all pretty. I felt super productive. It was awesome. I am on a rest day for squats, but I still should be able to do my gym time which I think I can manage. Yay for it being an early day for the kids since it means they have more time to complete their homework, which I like.

My coworker’s husband doesn’t have cancer, at least according to the test results from last week. They still want him to have a PET Scan, but this is just to verify that what they found was just a horrible case of pneumonia. The good news is that all of this got him to quit smoking, which in itself is a victory. It has been a rough holiday for their family, though, since they didn’t know what the results would be. Lung cancer would have been a horrible thing to hear. I am so relieved that this isn’t the case.

I am anxiously awaiting a package from Amazon. I ordered new earrings. I have been wearing the same ones in my additional holes for years and years. I decided it was time for a change. It is silly, I realize, but I actually really like all of the metal in my ears. Hell, I would love to add more in general. I know, I am strange.

Poor Trixie has a cold. I am a little concerned about her. She is so dang tiny. Hopefully it is minor. She seems to be more and more feisty in general, so I think she will be fine, but it worries me. I may need to do some web research on what to do in order to help her feel better soon. 

7 days

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I kicked some workout ass yesterday.

I did my 75 squats, along with hitting the gym at work and walked Wilson Park 4 times. It was all very happy making, aside from the stupid blister I got on my heal. Bleah. Luckily, I should be able to bandage for today’s gym time.

Bobby gets to go whale watching next week. Field trip for the 3^rd graders, which is super cool. We can go with, but I am at the point where I feel like he should get to do these things with his friends and not mom and dad tagging along. I love that the permission slip covered sea sickness at length.

Dax was dealt a horrible blow yesterday after the appeal decision still did not go in our favor. He will not be able to join the roster for the Creepers. It truly sucks on so many levels, but I also know Dax will be ok. Realistically next season he will be on Lou’s team with Bobby and it will be all good. Lou was quite upset, and so sweet to Dax about the whole thing. He is having Dax still wear the uniform and told him he was now the official water boy. Lou treats Dax like he is part of the team. It is nice to see how much he cares.

It is so strange. I know I slept good from when I hit the pillow at around 8 until 1. Then I felt like I was up the rest of the night. I know my legs are sore from all the exercise, so I am thinking I may need to stretch well before bedtime tonight. It may help sooth my legs so I can relax.

We have decided that Lycos will go to puppy dog heaven a week from today. Ken is going to make an appointment for around 2 and I am going to see if my mom can bring the boys from school since they do not want to be a part of it. It will be tough, but it is time. This means we can spoil her for this next week, giving her as much love and affection as possible. Our house will be a little empty.

Ken and Dax go to the dentist today, which is nice if only because it lets me hang with Bobby for a bit. I can pick him up from school and we can get started on his homework without distraction. I am hoping we can get through homework quickly so that he can play his computer today.

First day of the new year

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The new year really starts today.

With the kids back in school today and this being the first full week of work in 2, I am ready to rock and roll. I am already on day 6 of the squat challenge and my gym bag is full for the treadmill today. If all goes according to plan, I also will be able to walk the park tonight with Luna, and possible a nice walk before kid pick up, although that one may be nixed so I can handle some light chores.

It was a productive weekend. The boys and I cleaned the family room along with organizing their desks. It is crazy how quickly they were accumulating crap on those desks. It also is interesting to watch how quickly cat fur sticks to blue carpet. Either way, I was pleased with my cleaning results, which also allowed for Christmas goodies finally finding a home in the room.

I also set the boys to work out back where we picked up rocks and other things in order to keep the lawn clear to encourage the grass growth we have been seeing. I am anxious to have the ratio of grass to mud to increase as I am quite tired of Luna being quite so filthy.

We also spent much of yesterday working on Bobby’s homework, which we clearly procrastinated on for 2 weeks. I hadn’t realized he needed things done for today, as this is just the “pilot of the week” project in which each kid has a week where the class gets to know that kid better with shared items and pictures. I even get to write a letter to the class explaining how special he is, which he doesn’t get to see beforehand. I am also allowed to send old videos. YAY! Either way, He needed to fill out this one sheet and have pictures. Sadly, I am unsure if we were on overkill mode yesterday since the instructions didn’t explain enough as to what should happen. Either way, he is ready for it today.

The decision has been made to make an appointment for Lycos. Her quality of life is truly not where it should be. Ken had hoped to wait until her birthday in Feb, but we have determined that truly, it would not be fair to keep to that. It won’t be a good day. The boys have told us they don’t want to be there, so we will drop them off at my folks and Ken, Luna and I will take her to Doc Steinam’s. I don’t know the exact day we are doing this, but I think that even with the sadness of losing my 14 year old dog, I know it is for the best.

Eydie needs more work, which Ken will hopefully be able to accomplish some of it this week. I think we should consider getting the dumpster/workers ASAP for the great garage clean out. We will be renting a U-Haul, filling it with the items we keep, and then directing the day labor crew what goes in the dumpster. Even though it will cost us some money, it will be easy to just point and get it all done super quickly. We need to also go to Lowe’s this week and pick out tile for the kitchen so that can get started. Painting for the back bedroom, too, but as we have determined, painting is easier than other things. LOL!

I will be happy once Eydie is done if only because it means I can continue the little things at Steve. Porches and landscaping and other various organization projects all call out to me. We have started a new list of dinners we make so that we can have cards along with the ingredients so that we can make a more informed grocery trip. I know that there are still boxes of items that need to go to Savers sitting idle in my garage. I still want to find a bookshelf for my living room. It is all these little touches to make Steve even more cozy.

The other outing that needs to be done is to Blacksmith’s corner for vaccinations for the greys. Once that is done, I can make an appointment for them for spaying. We will take them to the Harbor shelter for that since they seem to have the best pricing and I actually really like the staff there.

I am starting to become more concerned. My friend here at work left a little early on Friday because she was going with her husband to the doctor to get the biopsy results on a spot found on his lung. She appears to be working from home today. I don’t want him to have cancer. Oh my goodness, I really don’t. Cancer is evil. All these fucking people out there worrying about pot and people being gay when really, the big threat that we as a world should be trying to fix is how to kill all cancer.

Happy New Year 2014

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Anyone still out there?

This is going to be a good year. With Steve being done aside from some painting on the outside and landscaping, we are settled nicely there. Eydie is coming along, with Ken having done tiling in the entry way yesterday. Holy crap, we should have done that years ago! It is awesome! We will also be doing new tile in the kitchen along with having the same hardwood floors guys who spiffed up Steve do their magic on Eydie. She will be a new woman!

Once that is rented out, hopefully life will get back into some sort of “normal”, whatever that is. Soccer is done aside from a couple of playoff games over the next week or so, but those are so simple to deal with.

I don’t like to make actual resolutions. They are too easy to break. However, I am interested in some goals for a better Gena.

Exercise is going to be forced back into my existence. I am currently doing the 30 day squat challenge with Alyssa and Sarah, two who will very likely keep me quite motivated in this one. I already have a plan for walking, too. Aside from making a point to use the gym here at work, I am going to walk Miss Luna along a route that will put me at the school for pick up each afternoon. I need to walk the route this weekend to determine how long it will take so I can start and finish according to the bell schedule, but it should be pretty awesome. It isn’t doing too much right away. It is simply doing some exercise each day, even if only a bit, to get me back into the groove. I can increase it as I get more used to the rigor.

I will see my friends more this year. I neglected the very important people in my life and I don’t intend to do that again. I need to make time for the people who I love, which isn’t only Ken and the boys. In addition to this, I hope to make a point of having Ken go out more with his people, even if it only means games at Steve. I think his soccer is his social outlet these days, but I want to make sure he spends time with Aaron and others also. All of this is good for our souls and it also is good for the boys to see us in how we interact with other people.

Speaking of the boys, I am also trying to be more conscience of my yelling again. If it means singing punishments or just simply becoming eerily quiet when I calmly take things from them, then so be it. It doesn’t mean I won’t ever yell again, but truly, if I do it all the time, how will they know when I am really pissed?

This also is my last year of doing the Treasurer position for the region. Since I know that Jerry is stepping down next year, it seems like a good time for me to, also. Plus, I really just don’t want to deal with the time spent on it. I have fun with aspects of it, and it is certainly possible I may change my mind in the coming months, but for now, my goal is to find a replacement person and start training them right away. This will allow me to then hand it over to someone smoothly.

Ultimately, my hopes are for me to be better at being a grownup, while not abandoning the part of me that made me into the grownup I am. Priorities need to be formed, which also include making sure I relax from time to time. Part of improving myself means being able to let some things (and people) go.

So here’s to a great start to 2014!