When it Rains

I just want to start out by saying Happy Belated 34th Birthday to my wonderful husband Joe. Without you, I'd have lost my sanity years ago. :)

And I also want to thank my husband's brother and sister-in-law Tommy and Charlotte. They are wonderful people and THANK YOU for taking us in last night. I was so thankful that they had the room and were so eager to have us stay with them. And Bayley enjoyed her uncle Tommy. :)

The day before yesterday, my husband got two tickets at work. He works full time at a university and then goes to school there full time in the evenings. He used his card to get into a lot that is open parking after 4pm. He parked there around 3:30 and got two tickets: one for parking there outside of the "free" hours, and the other for using a unauthorized/stolen card to obtain access. WTF? His card isn't either of those and he is going to fight it. The first ticket is $25 and the second is $100. What a crock of BS.

That night, I noticed our Siberian Husky Makana (pronounced Muh -kah - nah) was in our garage instead of in our backyard. We had him on a long metal lead to roam the backyard so he wouldn't dig out. We're having concrete poured in a few weeks to put in a new dog kennel to try to keep him from digging out. Well, apparently he chewed through it, dug out, and ran through the neighborhood. He is a very good dog and the neighborhood kids love him. He is gentle and sweet and never barks, growls, or bites. Ever. Anyway, I look more closely and notice his back leg is swollen and not touching the ground. I call Joe over and he looks at it and Makana yelps. We leave him in the garage overnight and I gave him some leftover Doggy Ibuprofen I had from Fletcher's (our collie) neutering a year or two ago. The next morning, still very swollen (at least twice the normal size) so I give him more meds and JOe takes him to the vet. We hear later that our dog has been SHOT with squirrel shot at close range and his foot is BROKEN. Some asshole shot our dog at close range and his foot is so full of pellets that the vet couldn't "even begin to count." And she can't remove them with surgery, so he's on antibiotics and pain meds and has to be rechecked in 10 days to see how he's doing. This is costing us around $400 (at last count... we get him this afternoon, so we'll see). It takes a real piece of shit to shoot a dog in the foot at close range just because he happened to be peeing in your yard. We have an idea of who may have done it but no proof.

I rush home yesterday because I have to get my allergy shot, pick up Bayley, rush home to put Z's baseball uniform in the dryer because my father in law is going to take Z to his game from 6 to 7:30 while I attend a wake of a family friend who passed away Friday. I got home and my FIL is already in the house and had already put the clothes from the dryer onto the couch and Z's baseball uniform in the dryer. He then gets Z dressed and leaves with him. I then call the gas company because they left a notice on my door that they shut my gas off for non-payment. WTF? So I call and find out that I transposed the numbers when I paid the bill last... $107 instead of $170 and since I do everything online (trying to save the trees) they had sent me an email shut off notice for that $63. Well, I figured it was just this month's bill so I let it go til I normally pay the bill. THEY SHUT OFF THE GAS FOR $63!! Then they made me pay a $40 reconnect fee, and a $100 deposit. Assholes. Oh, and the kicker? They wouldn't turn it back on that day because I called 30 minutes past their required time. I said, "Does it not matter that I have 2 small kids at home and the temp is supposed to get down to 39 tonight?" The woman said, "Sorry, ma'am, we sent you the bill and the shut off notice. That's our policy." I said, "Well I hope whoever wrote that policy has a good night's rest in their WARM house tonight while my 1 and 6 year olds freeze." Then I hung up. I was pissed.

So then I thought I could go buy some space heaters....but then we'd still have no hot water and Z would need a bath after his baseball game. And I take showers in the mornings. Then I thought a hotel room would work. Then I decided I didn't want to pay $100 for a hotel room. So I called my sister-in-law and asked if she was busy. She said, "No, just leaving the grocery store..." then I broke down and bawled. It freaked her out because she's never heard me cry but once I got the story out, she made me feel better. I asked if we could stay with them tonight and she was thrilled. So I packed up Z's, Bayley's, Joe's, and my clothes, toiletries, etc in a bag and loaded everyone up and stopped to pick up dinner then head out to their house. It was AWESOME....and so nice. Tommy wouldn't put Bayley down all night.... and she was wound up by the time I was falling down to go to bed. Joe tried singing her to sleep, but that didn't work, so he snored away while I walked around rubbing her back. Then I put her in the floor with her fave Pooh bear and a blanket. Before you scoff at the floor...their carpet is PLUSH. Like, I would've been super happy to sleep on it. And she was quite comfy too...didn't move much all night. It was nice having her in the same room for once. :)

Anyway, I didn't get much sleep (the whole sleeping somewhere other than my bed thing) and so I was up by 5am...but layed there and tossed and turned til 5:40 when I finally got up and consoled Bayley who was crying in her sleep... then I took a shower and loaded the car, then got Z ready for school and Bayley dressed and ready. Charlotte is a teacher at the high school so she took Z to school this morning for me. Yay. :) But Bayley and I were out the door before Tommy got out of bed.

So... that was my day and night yesterday. I am very sleepy this morning...my eyes are red, too. lol. I'm in a good mood despite being really sleepy.

Now I'm just waiting on the gas company to call me to let me know they're on the way to my house so I can haul butt home to meet them there.

All this aside... yes, it sucks...but our dog will be okay (I hope) and I am VERY thankful and grateful to have Joe's family because they ROCK. (Mine do too...but they don't have the room.) And THANK YOU to my Mom who gave me some pity money to go put gas in my car and buy dinner last night. I told her I didn't want it, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. And you learn quickly to not argue with my mom.

Sorry such a long post.... now I'm gonna go drink a tub of coffee. :)