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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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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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Kitchen Sink

So I have a story that includes everything even the kitchen sink. I give your fair warning that this story is going to be gross and make you question life. Unless you have teenage boys, in which case you’ll strangely find this story believable and dare I say normal. It all began in a gate community west of the turnpike…

Our story starts off with a peaceful evening in our house. The parents and puppies have gone to bed and all is quiet. Anakin is trained to use a pad. Consequently, we leave him out at night and he usually sleeps in our bed. Sometimes, however, he misses the mark. Tuesday night he missed the mark Consequently, he left a land mine in the middle of the floor.

The Mayor, who has a weird aversion to lights, got home from hockey practice after we were already in bed. He doesn’t like the lights on, so he left them on. Unfortunately, this meant he didn’t see the land mind Anakin had left for him. Fortunately, he was still wearing his shoes, so it didn’t get all over his feet. It didn’t crunch or anything like that. It did, however, make a mess of the bottom of his shoe.

So you may be asking yourself, where does the kitchen sink play into this story? Well, I’ll tell you. Apparently, the Mayor decided the right place to clean the dog shit off of his sneakers was our kitchen sink. But wait, it gets worse. He also decided to use the brush we use to scrape dishes clean to clean his shoe. To be fair, he cleaned up the crime scene, so you wouldn’t guess what happened to the kitchen sink the night before. However, he also left the scrub brush there like he hadn’t just used it to clean up dog shit.

This all came out yesterday on my lunch break. At first, I was sure he was kidding. There’s no way he would wash shit off his shoe in the kitchen sink. But then I remember, he’s a teenage boy with the common sense of a toddler. In the end, we ended up throwing both scrub brushes away since he didn’t remember which one he used. He is also now acutely aware that messes like that need to be cleaned outside with the hose and a tree branch. As for the kitchen sink, it’s been bleached and cleaned. Yet, I still can’t look at it the same way.

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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
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Another Late Night

It was another late night as the Mayor had his last regular season high school hockey game tonight. I kind of thought his team was done last Friday, but clearly, that was wishful thinking. Obviously, I love the morass that is high school hockey in south Florida. If you’ve read any of my recent blogs, you know I hold it near and dear to my heart. Fortunately for me, it’s not over. Apparently, the Mayor’s team qualified for the playoffs. At least, the kids are having fun and enjoying the league.

Before we went to hockey, the Mayor and I took Arrow to his last puppy kindergarten session. He’s officially a puppy kindergarten graduate. Nonetheless, he still has a lot of work to do and so do I. I’ll be signing him up for the beginner classes that start in February. I crinkled up the schedule sheet, so hopefully, it doesn’t get thrown away. He does really well with the trainer in class, but not so well with us. Interestingly, Arrow does awesome when we work at home. We’ll keep working with him as he’s eager to learn.

Today was my first day of vacation. I had planned to take the Mayor Christmas shopping this morning, however, there was a wrench in our plan. Apparently, the hubby scheduled Goalielocks to work. Unfortunately, nobody told me, so it was quite a surprise. It was probably for the better, however, as my sinuses were still bugging me this morning. By this afternoon, my sinus headache had abated nicely. Thank god for prednisone. Hopefully, the sinus headache will be completely gone tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, it’s a big day! Jake comes home for the holidays and my parents get here!!! Can’t wait!! And now another late night is over.

Today’s accountability tracker:

  • Workout: Sweat HIIT beginner week 2 leg day and mile run
  • Book: The Marriage Game by Alison Weir
  • Blog: almost done
  • Today’s song: Story of My Life by One Direction
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Dreams Are Made

Dreams are made of these is today’s prompt for bloganury. While I was in Savannah, I had the most vivid dream that Anakin, my sweet puppy disappeared. I never established if he was taken, ran away or dead; I only knew he was gone. Consequently, I searched high and low across the globe looking for my sweet boy, but he was nowhere to be found. It was awful!

Fortunately, it was just a dream and he’s currently laying down next to me on the couch. Outside of my vivid dream about Anakin, I find myself dreaming of traveling a lot. Obviously, I’m missing the amount of traveling we did prior to the pandemic. My dreams predominately take me to Europe and Scandinavia to be specific. It probably doesn’t help that I’m reading a novel set in Norway.

Work was the stuff that dreams are made of today. I had one customer that was frustrating, but only because she made absolutely no sense at all. As for the rest of my clients, they were buyers today. Moreover, I even had a few clients from last week that called back to buy today. You can’t ask for a better Monday than that. Of course, Athena had to keep it interesting by pooping right in the path of the Roomba, so that was fun.

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Sleepy Puppies

I’ve got two sleepy puppies. They’ve had a very busy day of destroying the tennis ball toy they got for Christmas. Also, as my sales assistants, I keep them busy with work all day long. It’s tough to lay down and watch mom work all day. If I wanted to wake them up, I could say the magic word “out” and they’d run to the door. I could also open a bag a shredded cheese and they would run to the fridge. Those sleepy puppies are silly.

I’m glad it’s almost Friday even if work has been good this week. Of course, the best part of my week is Jake’s weekly call home. He looked and sounded great. I can’t wait until we can see him again! Sadly, I have no idea when we’ll be able to fly out and visit him again. I am hoping, however that we can make it out to Utah for the big air show on base.

I received word this morning that one of my former employees has been missing since November. Shenika is one of the kindest most loving people in this world. Please share the above flyer wide and far. We need to bring her home safely. As the search goes on, please pray for her safety and for strength for her friends and family looking for her.