Separation Anxiety?

Ok... so I had a couple of ladies over tonight and one brought her two dogs (a boxer and a lab). We let all three dogs out and they ran around and played like crazy. We came back inside for 45 mins or so, then the ladies left. I walked out with them, was gone maybe 3 minutes and came back to find that Kaylee had gotten into all sorts of mischief.

It's like the second I walk out the door she goes ballistic. I'm thinking it's not just an energy issue. I'm thinking it's separation anxiety - she freaks when I leave her.

Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions?

I'm reading Cesar Millan's book: Cesar's Way, but I haven't gotten to the "good stuff" yet.

Devil Dog

Oh sure... she's got that "I'm SOOOO cute and perfect and lovable" face... but I'm on to her little game. That halo is held up by a set of horns.

I got REALLLLY frustrated with my "devil dog" yesterday and was to the point where I thought I was going to have to take her back. I've been holding off on getting too attached to her because I wasn't sure she was going to work out. Then, this week, she proved my worst fears were valid.

I left her out of her cage - free to rampage through my home - yesterday morning. When I came home during lunch I found a MESS. Aside from gnawing on various pieces of furniture, pillows, hangers, etc. She had pulled up a big section of my carpet - ripped it right up from the nails and from underneath the little runner that connects it to the linoleum. I managed to fix the carpet and the other stuff wasn't too terrible, but I won't be leaving her out again. This makes me sad. I don't want her life to consist of solitary confinement 9 hours a day 4-5 days a week, but I don't see any other choice.

Mom says she needs more exercise, which I'm sure is true. I've been so sick I didn't want to walk her in that weather with strep throat... But I took her for a short walk this morning without a leash and she stayed fairly close. She did run out a bit, but always came back when I called her.

AND the snow-covered face thing, well that's become a habit. She buries her entire face in the snow drift - sniffing I guess - then when she comes up for air she snorts and shakes her head and is a complete dork.

She's a silly devil dog.

Here's the other thing. I'm not madly in love with this dog. I'm not even sure if I love her. I feel like a horrible mom, but she's not what I expected - not what I thought I was getting. And worst of all... she's not Jake. We had Jake from the time I was 10 years old until I was 27. 17 years. Over half my life. Granted I was up in MN for the last few years, but he was always there. I could always go home to him and when I made the decision Thanksgiving of '05 to have him put to sleep - because it WAS time - I knew I would never have him with me again. Up until that point I always thought he'd come live with me - wishful thinking. Jake was my baby. We connected instantly and were together for YEARS. He was always there for me and snuggled with me through my horrible teens, the deaths of my loved ones... He was just always there. Now he's not. I thought having a dog would help heal this hole in my heart, but it hasn't. Kaylee's not Jake. I know that with my head, my heart is just a little slow in catching on.

As for Sheba's reaction... she REALLLLLLY liked being an only child and she isn't too happy with having to share me. Kaylee acts like Sheba doesn't exist - until I'm loving Sheba and then she butts in - and Sheba looks at Kaylee and then at me like "Mom!? Did you really have to?"

My hope is that Kaylee will find her niche. That she and Sheba will discover they can play together and snuggle together and be friends. And that my longing for my dead puppy will gently ease and Kaylee will take up at least some of the hole that's still there.

Scooby Doo Trivia!

I went to trivia again last night and we did quite well, tying for 2nd place. It almost felt like I was back at Brigid's - just me and three guys.

As if finding a trivia night and team weren't good enough, each round of last nights trivia started with a question about Scooby Doo. If you don't know this about me - I'm kind of a fan. I have a HUGE collection and have loved the show since I was little. I (heart) Scooby Doo. I'm proud to say I got all three questions right. How would you do?

1. What is the name of the van/vehicle they drive in Scooby Doo?

2. What cartoon character's real name is Norville Rogers? (They didn't reference Scooby Doo in the question, but I knew it!)

3. Which Scooby Doo character says "Jeepers!"?

Achew!

Couldn't think of a title and just sneezed a couple of times...

Still sinusy and tired, but my throat pain seems to be gone and I NEED to get back to work.

Puppy updates:

She woke me up the other morning growling. I rolled over to see what the problem was and she was growling at that other doggie in the mirror. Silly puppy.

It was snowing last night and when I let her in she had a snow beard and snow all over her paws. It was a sight to see.

Currently reading: The Power of One by Bryce Courtney AND Sabriel by Garth Nix.

Sore (not Soar) Throat

I *knew* it! I've only had a soar throat THAT bad once - when I had strep.

I'm glad I went in Thursday night to the emergency clinic. I was struggling with the decision, but I felt so miserable and thought it must be strep... They just called me with the test results and sure enough, strep.

I'm so glad I went in, even if it was 11:30 at night, because I feel a lot better.

Just trying to decide if I'm ready to go back to school tomorrow...

Introducing Kaylee

Finally got official permission to have a dog, so I was able to bring this little girl home!






I'm still learning her quirks and she's still learning the rules, but she's really sweet and she and Sheba are getting along well.

Managed to get all of my grading and 192 student comments done today (in between the napping).

Throat still hurts a lot, but it's better than it was last night/this morning.

Trivia'ing it up

Let me start by saying I absolutely miss my MN peeps and I LOVED going to trivia every Monday night. Now, let me follow that up with a "Woot!" because I was invited to attend a local trivia team last night. They meet every Wednesday night at a bar 20 mins away. While the bar feels completely different from Brigid's and the people are more laid back about the scores, it has a similar vibe to Brigid's... in the sense that the people are lots of fun. They invited me to join them next week and I am SO there! This trivia event even plays 1 song per round and you have to give them the song name and artist.

In other news... I haven't been sick since the middle of last February, which I think might be a record for me. I totally expected to get every germ the kids threw at me as a first year teacher, but we're through the first semester and I'm JUST NOW feeling it. Soar throat. Stuffy nose. Tired. Wanna crawl back in bed and pass out for the next 12-24 hours.

Book Club @ My Place

was interesting... There are a couple of people who... how can I say this... have differing opinions about... everything - which makes for some interesting conversations.

BUT - they're all nice people and I think they had a really good time (overall).

Plus, my chicken parmigiana and creme brulee were both big hits!

The book we read this last month was Whale Talk by Chris Crutcher.

We all pitched in ideas for the next book and drew it from a bowl. Next month's pick was mine - Sabriel by Garth Nix. I read this trilogy 5 years ago for a Young Adult Literature class and I've been TRYING to get somebody to read it since - so I'd have someone to discuss it with. *eyes Aya and Mom* Now I'll have 7 ladies to discuss it with! I think this'll be the 4th time I've read it. Something about it just clicks with me.

Gotta have my car at the windshield repair place (20 mins away) at 7am tomorrow morning. Then spending 45 mins to get to a 5 hour class on Podcasting (that I found out I get paid to attend, but was gonna attend anyway = sweet!).

Now... sleep.

I have heat!

Finally! After 13 days my furnace is back in working order.

I spent this evening cleaning house, making 3 batches of creme brulee for my book club (tomorrow night) and reading my book.

And I did it all without fretting about my heat, tripping over a repair man or freezing to death!

Comedy of Errors MINUS the Comedy

Where to begin...

No, seriously...

Let's start with the beginning... I came home on New Years Eve to find no hot water. My landlord tried to fix it, but had to resort to a repair man who, through no fault of his own, caused the gas valve on my furnace to get stuck open. I had a gas leak for two days until the second repair man figured out it was the gas valve and shut down the gas going to the furnace. That was on Jan 2nd and I've been without a furnace since then. That's 12 days, if you're counting.

The part FINALLY came in yesterday, but the furnace still wouldn't get going. The repair man said it must be some electrical thingy. He picked up that part this morning and was going to install it tonight. Unfortunately, his grandmother died. So he hopped on a plane this afternoon to go be with his family. This is something I understand, having lost 3 grandparents in the course of 2 years while I was living in MN.

So... my landlord (who came over again tonight) has contacted a different company and someone should be coming out tomorrow morning to fix my furnace.

In the meantime I'm working with two borrowed heaters and one purchased heater (my landlord reimbursed me for that one) and keeping my house around 55-60 degrees. It's HARD to get up in the morning, but I'm managing aside from dreading next months electric bill. It's just been ridiculously frustrating and I let my landlord know tonight exactly how frustrated I am (I did it in a nice way).

In other news... I used my garbage disposal for maybe the 2nd or 3rd time ever last night and it got all plugged up. I tried to fix it without success, but my landlord was able to get it fixed tonight. Thank goodness. He says the guy before me must have shoved a bunch of stuff down there because it was backed up way in the pipes.

SO... I have a working garbage disposal and water heater, but my furnace is still broken. With me?

The kicker? This Thursday I'm having my book club ladies over for dinner and discussion. I don't want them to freeze to death and I don't want to have to reschedule or switch houses because I'm really looking forward to them coming over!

Now we come to the dog situation. When I left for break I was under the impression that everything was fine, a letter would reach my landlords any day, and I would receive the OK to get a dog. Well... I've never dealt with an HOA (Home Owner's Assoc.) and in fact, before I moved here, I never really knew what their purpose was or anything about them. Let's just say they move at their own pace. My neighbor, the president of the HOA works a full time job and is a volunteer fireman, so he's extremely busy. What he didn't tell me before break was that he was going to have to talk to every single owner to get their okay and I guess not all of the Townhouse owners are easy to get a hold of. However, my landlord said that all he needs is a majority vote and it's good enough for him. Plus both he and the HOA president agreed that the law about renters not having pets is outdated and ridiculous and needs to go. So someday... one way or another... In the mean time I am waiting on the HOA president to get in touch with one more person - the swing vote - before he'll give my landlord the official okay (SO not what my understanding was before Christmas).

I reached peak frustration today. You know when you reach the point where you've really just had quite enough, thank you? Yeah. That was me today.

There are some positives:

1. I fell on New Years Eve day and this past Sunday was the first day I was primarily pain-free. I've been taking it easy this week and other than the occasional twinge I'm doing much better. Plus my bruise is almost gone.

2. My landlord has been pursuing both the doggie and the furnace issues AND he fixed my garbage disposal.

3. I'm thinking positive that the furnace will be fixed tomorrow morning so that when the ladies from the book club come over we will have a warm and cozy evening.

Recap:

Still waiting for a working furnace and still waiting to get my doggie.

Reading Agnus and the Hitman by Jennifer Cruise and Bob Mayer (recommended by my aunt) and it is a good one.

The way things are...

I'm sorry I didn't wish everyone a "Happy New Year" - I really do hope it's going well for everyone.

I've been extremely frustrated lately because it seems like nothing is going the way I wanted/expected it to.

You know how they say bad things happen in threes?

Well nothing super terrible has happened, but 3 frustrating things are happening.

1. The president of the HOA still has to talk with one more person (a part-timer so who knows when they'll be back here) before he will write the letter to my landlords saying it's ok for me to have a dog. NOT what he told me before I left for the break. I'll go into more details later once everything has been sorted out. But this has been a source of major stress for me...

2. I've been without a furnace for 8 days, but supposedly the part will be here (and installed) on Monday. Not that I haven't heard that twice already. My landlord doesn't seem overly concerned by the fact that I'm without heat. His attitude is fairly nonchalant over the phone - though he has been bugging the heating and air conditioning repair place about when the part will get here. Also, he and his wife are discussing what they can do for next months rent as compensation for all this mess. I'm thinking $20 a day... at 11 days... $220 off the rent? (A girl can dream) I'm kind of dreading my electric bill this month... maybe I should be dreading the gas bill too... a 2 day leak... *ponder* *cringe* *sigh*

3. I'm still not healed from my fall. The bruise on the side of my leg wound up being softball size. That area is still tender, but the bruise seems to be healing. I can't walk or stand or ride in a car for very long without my hip and/or lower back starting to hurt. I'm afraid I might need to go see a doctor if it doesn't heal on its own. I don't want to face this daily pain for an extended period of time. I've talked to local people and they've recommended a certain chiropractor and a certain pt. We'll see.

I'm really looking forward to each and every one of these issues being resolved. It'll be nice to watch TV without shivering, snuggled up with a puppy dog, pain free.

Sunday

Took dad to airport today and he called to say he made it home safely. House seems emptier when he leaves.

I'm feeling better... just have a big sore spot on my leg (where I hit the cement step) and my left knee twinges a bit, but I'm not walking like a little old lady now - the only thing that was missing was my walker. I actually used the electric wheelchair at Target the other day...

My apartment is really cold. -19 outside and my 2 borrowed and 1 purchased heaters aren't keeping up. I'm trying to keep it warm enough that the pipes don't freeze and wearing multiple layers so I don't freeze.

Back to teaching tomorrow. Least it's warm there.

Falling is bad...

Slipping and falling on ice is painful, especially when you land on the corner of a cement step.

Deep bruise on my right outer thigh and pain in both hips, left knee, right wrist, lower back, etc.

Not my smoothest moment.

Did it on Wednesday and I could barely walk yesterday. I'm somewhat better today, but still VERY sore.

No more of that. Ever.