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Back Home

We made it back home from Boston last night. Fortunately, the trip was completely uneventful and smooth sailing. The extent of our travel troubles was me missing my turn at the rental return center and the Mayor’s meltdown over food in the Sky Club. In his opinion, the food there sucks. In fact, it didn’t but he was happy to eat his Sbarro. Meanwhile, I enjoyed the locally curated food including one last bowl of clam chowder and a cannoli.

I ordered pizza on the way home as there was no way my ass was cooking dinner last night. It would have been nice to have a home-cooked meal after eating out the last five days, but whatever. Nonetheless, I was happy to be home and reunited with the puppies. Unfortunately, my sweet Athena is not looking too good. I keep hoping against hope that she’ll miraculously recover. I really can’t imagine our house without her.

The change in climate from Boston to South Florida was brutal. Our weather throughout the trip was quite comfortable. There was one evening of storms, but those hit after we had made it back to the hotel for the night. In contrast, South Florida continues to be unseasonably hot and humid. I noticed when we got home that our house was pretty hot. Apparently, the AC was not working so well. I’m not sure when it stopped working, but nobody seemed to notice until I said something. Fortunately, the hubby was able to get it working, so we could sleep comfortably.

It’s good to be home, but the trip to Boston was great. I’d be happy to never have to drive in that city again, but I did enjoy exploring it on foot. It was a great trip to connect with the Mayor’s new team and to connect with my dear friend Jenny. I can’t believe that we ended up in the same city on the same weekend. It was such a blessing to be able to see her for dinner. Now that we’re back home, it’s back to reality which includes work and eating healthy again. The splurge on tasty food in Boston was fun, but I’m ready to get back on the wagon.

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Athena update

I thought I’d hop on this fine Friday afternoon and give an Athena update. After an incredibly rough weekend, she has rebounded. We were quite concerned that she wasn’t going to make it through the week, but she’s persevered. In fact, her gums are back to a nice pink color. She’s also back to playing with her brothers.

My baby girl

She loves her new bed and sleeps every night there now. Since I work from home, she’s with me every day. My workstation is in my room, so she hangs out in bed all day. The only exception is when she hangs out in the family room while I spin over lunch. I’m fortunate to be able to work from home and spend every day with her.

This morning and this afternoon, she was anxious to do her full walk. The last few days, she had been content to just hang around the yard. Consequently, it’s good to see her back to her normal habits. In fact, she’s back to aggressively defending our cul-de-sac from birds, squirrels, and other dogs. Unfortunately, this also means she’s back to alerting the household every time a package is delivered. I’m trying not to get too hopeful because it will hurt all the worse when she deteriorates again. If only our dogs could stay with us forever. That’s the Athena update for now.

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The Spoils

Today the spoils of Prime Days have started to show up!!! We’ll be getting a steady stream of packages over the next week or so, which is always exciting. I definitely took advantage of Prime Days this year to stock my pantry. Consequently, it will save me a lot of money over the next few months. This, of course, will be helpful as the Mayor is starting Junior hockey next month. For the uninitiated, junior hockey ramps the cost up from “an arm and a leg” (cost of youth hockey) to organ territory. Now in order for you kid to play hockey, they’ll need your arms, legs, and at least one kidney.

I digress. My favorite thing that was delivered today was Athena’s new bed. It’s super plush and supportive for her. She has a bed in her crate but has been sleeping on the floor next to our bed this past week. As Athena lives out her bucket list, my princess will be as comfortable as possible. This puppy will want for nothing. She absolutely loves her new bed. I guess part of me hopes if we keep spoiling her, she’ll get better. Love is the best medicine and she’s surrounded by it.

The Amazon fairy also brought us some more rice, protein shakes, a new pair of jeans (yay) and accessories for my new Roomba mop that’s coming next week. I ended up buying the Roomba J7 and Braava mop combo during Prime Days. Our current Roomba, Lord Vader has died. After running over Athena’s poop several times, it was her puddle of pee that finished him off last Saturday. I love my Roomba. Even with the three dogs, it does a great job of keeping the floors clean without me, or anyone else, having to do anything. I’m an ardent supporter of anything that makes life easier.

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Athena

Athena has been a part of our lives for over eight years. It feels, however, like she’s been here forever. She’s an integral part of our family and owns a big piece of our hearts. In late May, she got sick, so I took her in to see the vet. I was hoping it was just a bug, but was worried it was something more serious based on her behavior. With a working diagnosis of potential pancreatitis, we brought her back home for the night. The vet scheduled her to return the next day for an ultrasound and fluids.

The next day, the boys dropped Athena off in the morning. Around lunchtime, our vet called with the worst possible news. While her pancreas was fine, she had two large masses in her liver that were actively bleeding and ascites. They diagnosed her with hemangiosarcoma, which is a very aggressive cancer without any good treatment options. Consequently, we brought her home to say goodbye to her brothers, and FaceTime Jake. Thankfully, she wasn’t in any pain.

Before the Mayor and I flew to Minnesota early Thursday, we said our final goodbyes to the Piggie. We all agreed that if she worsened or showed any evidence of pain, my hubby would take her into the vet to be put to sleep. In the meantime, he’d continue spoiling her with all her favorite foods and activities. She was living out her bucket list.

Athena was in good shape when we came back from Minnesota much to our surprise. Her symptoms of liver failure had completely abated and the ascites had gone down. She was playful and happy. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Honestly, I didn’t think we’d see her alive again. This past month with Athena has been an absolute gift. She’s on borrowed time, so we’re spending as much time and spoiling her as much as possible.

This weekend she started to go down hill. She’s not showing signs of pain, but we can tell her liver is starting to fail again. I’m hoping against hope that her liver begins to function again, but that’s highly unlikely. Consequently, we will probably have to bring her to the vet or bring the vet to us to put her down. We can’t imagine losing her, but we don’t want her to experience any pain. In the mean time, she’s living out her bucket list one donut at a time.

Jake and Athena’s post deployment reunion
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Arrow is one

Our little puppy, okay not so little, Arrow is one. we celebrated yesterday with birthday ice cream for all three puppies and a special gift for Arrow. As you can imagine, all three dogs loved their ice cream treats. Anakin enjoyed his in the comfort of his crate as he gets a food aggressive towards the other dogs. That and he’ll try to take their ice cream too.

Arrow loved his little Lamp Chop stuffed toy. I, on the other hand, did not. Apparently, I missed the fact that it had a squeaker in it. Needless to say, Arrow and his toy were squeaking away all night. Anakin loves to hoard toys and not play with them. He was eying Arrow’s toy as soon as Arrow got it. Consequently, I distracted him with another toy. Nevertheless, his focus continued to return to Arrow’s toy.

While the puppies enjoyed the birthday festivities, the rest of us watched the Hurricanes take on the Devils. This was a must win for the Devils, but ultimately the Canes sent them packing with an overtime goal. The Panthers play tonight and have the chance to end the Maple Leafs season. We went to game four Wednesday and they looked terrible. Here’s hoping our Cardiac Cats show up and get er’ done.

In honor of the 30th anniversary of Weezer’s Blue Album (yesterday,) here’s Buddy Holly.

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Calm

It was a calm morning in our house today. In contrast with yesterday’s actual shit show. Fortunately, the illness that caused the overnight loss of bowels and bladders is gone. It was a bloodbath yesterday. This morning all three puppies are happy, and healthy and didn’t leave a mess in their crates this morning. I even got to watch Bake Off before starting work. Of course, yesterday morning was also hectic because I had a lab appointment at Quest. It’s never fun going to Quest during the snowbird season.

One of the things that has always bothered me since moving to South Florida is having to go to Quest or Lab Corp for blood work. Thankfully, my primary doctor does it in the office. My Endo also has a lab in the office, but it’s not in my insurance carrier’s network. It’s so mind-numbingly infuriating that health insurance makes it so cumbersome to get care. I hate waking up at the ass crack of dawn to get blood work done. Nor do I enjoy scheduling bloodwork out four weeks because it’s season and every Quest around me is booked for weeks.

I was hoping to have the blood work back today, but no such luck. They’ll likely send the results Monday. This time they ran a test to measure inflammation, so it will be interesting to see what that shows. This particular test, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, is helpful in diagnosing inflammatory diseases like lupus and RA as well as helping determine a patient’s risk of heart disease. My family has a well-documented history of heart disease, so I’m curious to see what it shows. This test can also shed light on whether another autoimmune disease is in play for me. So here I am calm as a cucumber waiting on my test results and working.

Meanwhile, my back is still bothering me on my right side where the shingle patches were. I thought I pulled a muscle in bed, but maybe it’s related to the shingles. The location is certainly suspicious. I’ve been treating it with a mixture of camphor, lidocaine, and balsam. Thankfully, Tiger Balm and Salonpas put all that goodness into wearable patches. Otherwise, it can be a literal pain to use either.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Today’s song is fun and a bit risque! Enjoy Lady Marmalade from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack
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Family in Town

We have family in town, which is helping occupy my mind as we just closed a huge chapter in our life. Grandpa Steve and Grandma Linda are in town along with their precious puppies. Unfortunately, our big dogs are a little overzealous in their welcome and make the little dogs super anxious. Consequently, we opted for dinner at Sushi Yama since we could sit outside and their dogs could join us.

While Jake and our family in Minny are getting pummeled by winter storms, our weather is literally perfect. Okay, it may be a little too warm to be perfect, but it’s nearly there. If Mother Nature could flip the off switch on the humidity, it would be amazing. Nonetheless, it was the perfect evening for dining outside. I’ll never cease to enjoy eating outdoors during the winter months. After growing up in Minnesota, the Florida winters never get old.

Today is a very special day in our house. Today we celebrate the eighth anniversary of Athena’s Gotcha Day. Athena has brought us so much joy and laughter over the years. I seriously don’t think we could ask for a better puppy. She was a wonderful sister to Maya and always looked out for her. Now she keeps her eyes on her rambunctious younger brothers. She’s never afraid to put either one in their place. Above all, Athena loves her family dearly and will always be the first to protect us if needed. We love you Piggie!

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: 45-minute spin class, plus 15-minute cooldown courtesy of Apple Fitness
  • Book: Book: Marcel Proust’s  Finding Lost Time. 
  • Blog: done
  • Word of the day: delete. How many times a day are you tempted to delete your social media apps?
  • Today’s song: Little Talks by Of Monsters and Men
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Top of the Mountain

I’m approaching the top of the mountain, the proverbial mountain that is a week, as my Friday workday is now half over. I long for the beautiful vistas of a Saturday and Sunday off that I’ll see at the peak of the mountain. For now, I’ll ignore the despicably low valley that is a forthcoming Monday morning. I’m ready to ride our my Friday afternoon.\

I’m optimistic about the weekend, but I’m a pessimist when it comes to my hubby’s work situation. Seven weeks have now gone by without a paycheck. What in the actual fuck is that lunacy? His boss shouldn’t treat my hubby this way. If you know him, you know there are few people better at their craft than him. He’s a total professional. Honestly, I don’t know how some people sleep at night.

Last night Anakin gave the hubby and me quite the scare. We had Arrow and Athena on the leashes to take them out for their 6:00 pm walk when the three dogs huddled at the door. Like a star NFL running back, Anakin found a hole in our coverage and got loose. His first instinct was to hunt at the hibiscus by the garage. He quickly moved on to the hibiscus up front. We tried to grab him numerous times, but he ran out of reach.

As he ran to the stop sign, my heart stopped. I was so afraid a car was going to hit this dog. We rushed to put Athena and Arrow back inside, so we could concentrate on catching Ani. Meanwhile, he sprinted at full speed into our backyard. We were a bit worried as Anakin is afraid of strangers and reacts accordingly. As a result, I had hoped he would have stopped at the passion fruit vine to hunt, but he wasn’t there and my heart dropped. We couldn’t see Anakin anywhere.

My hubby and I split up, I stayed in the backyard and headed toward the lake while the hubby headed up front to look for him. When I heard a splash as I lamented the notion of losing my sweet Anakin. Heartbroken at the thought of losing my dog, I turned towards the splash and that’s when I saw him. He had jumped into the lake and was swimming after the ducks trying to catch them. For a split second, I was worried I’d have to go in after him, but he came right to me when he was called.

Anakin loves his AFLAC duck

At this point, Anakin has the biggest smile on his face. He had enjoyed his little adventure swimming in the lake chasing ducks. Fortunately, neither the hubby nor I had to jump in to get him out. Moreover, no ducks or dogs were hurt during Anakin’s wild adventure. We think his older sister Maya would have been proud of his duck-hunting adventure. As for now, he’s locked up while the other dogs are taken out less he tries to break free again. His adventure concluded with a nice shower to wash the lake smell off of him.

Clearly, Thursday night was the top of the mountain for Anakin, but for the rest of us Friday night beckons. We have no plans tonight, which is fabulous. The Mayor’s regular season for his travel team will come to an end tomorrow afternoon. It’s been a difficult year, but I feel like he’s grown as a player and learned a lot. Too often folks get hung up on the Ws instead of focusing on how the players developed on and off the ice over the season. The hubby and I are really proud of how hard he has worked.

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Sandler Sunday

In continuing my r&r reason, it’s Sandler Sunday in our house. We started the morning with The Waterboy and are now continuing with Happy Gilmore. In between, I’ve walked Arrow like 100 times trying to get him to go to the bathroom outside. He gets a bit distracted by all the stuff he sees on the walk. In fact, he really loves birds. I think he’d like nothing more than to catch one. He’s also a fan of squirrels and lizards like his older brother Anakin.

In between movies and walks through the rain, I made some chocolate chocolate chip cookies. The best part of these cookies is undoubtedly the dough. While the cookies are yummy, they’re not as amazing as the dough. My family has a discriminating palate, so I like to use high-quality butter and cocoa powder. It makes for a much richer cookie. Afterward, I started some bread to go with tonight’s dinner. Hopefully, I’ll manage the time so the bread comes out of the oven right as dinner is ready.

I’ve also managed to get the floors vacuumed and some laundry is done. Yesterday afternoon, I was able to finish our taxes. All in all, I have had a very productive restful weekend. The remainder of my Sandler Sunday will be spent finishing laundry, cuddling with the puppies, watching movies, and baking bread.

Today’s song featuring a saxophone is Old Time Rock & Roll by Bob Seger.

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They’re Here!

They’re here!!! That’s right Jake and my folks arrived just in time for the winter solstice tomorrow. More to the point, they’re here for the holidays! I’m so excited to have all three boys gone for a Christmas. Moreover, my parents visiting is the cherry on top! My parents flew in this afternoon, while Jake and Melly drove home from FSU. He had flown to Tally first, so she wouldn’t have to drive down by herself.

The anticipation was getting to me earlier today, so I passed the time taking portraits of the dog with my phone. Truly, portrait mode in the iPhone takes some incredible pictures. Today I was playing around with the stage lighting. It produced some super cute photos. Although to be fair, the subjects themselves were super cute. Incredibly, all three of the puppies were cooperative with the photo shoot. This rarely happens!

We ended the evening with a nice family dinner at Villa Rosana in Boca. Melody and her parents were able to join us, which was fantastic. The Mayor was quick to reserve the spot next to himself for Jake. He definitely misses having his big brother home. During dinner, the boys and Melly enjoyed each other’s company with healthy dose of laughter and riposte amongst the banter. I’m looking forward to another fun day with them tomorrow!

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: Ran two miles, walked one. Restore and Refresh Restorative gifs practice via Practyce App.
  • Book: The Marriage Game by Alison Weir
  • Blog: almost done
  • Today’s song: Dance With the Devil by Breaking Benjamin