CMA Fest 2011!!

Woohoo!! We're booked for CMA Fest 2011!! Just called and put our deposits down. We'll be staying downtown at the Doubletree next year. No more wasting time waiting for shuttles!! AND Missy is going with us! What fun!!! I'm not wishing my life away but I can't wait!

A bit of catching up ...

Well, we're on Day 6 of the second eye surgery for Peanut. As I suspected, he pulled some stitches out and part of the graft was loose, with eye fluid leaking out ... again. He needed immediate surgery ... again, to correct it. Would it surprise anyone for me to say I had a mini meltdown? It took everything I had to keep my emotions in control until I walked outside to the car. Poor Bob didn't know what to do. He wants to make it all better and fix it - he can't fix this, nor how I feel about it. I know all about feeling helpless to make someone you love feel better - it sucks.

Peanut would be ready to go home around 3pm. We had tickets to go see BB King that evening with Rick and Regina - 9th row seats. I had a "sitter" lined up to stay with Peanut that evening since Cari had to work. But now ... I couldn't leave him with someone else after surgery. Long story short, we elected to leave him at the hospital (they're connected with a 24 emergency care) until after the concert. I needed a night off. I hated leaving him there but I needed to get out of the house more. We were back to square one with the damn collar, more eye drops, continuous 24/7 supervision, etc.

The Bier Garden was our destination for dinner. I must say, the beer was awesome (I had two tall ones) but the food was just ok. Lukas Nelson opened for BB - I hadn't heard of him before and wish I still hadn't heard of him. I'm not a big blues person anyway but Bob has always loved BB King. I could handle the music fine, but when Lukas opened his mouth this Gawd Awful nasal whine escaped his vocal cords and it grated on what little was left of my last surviving nerve. It was pretty bad. Even Bob thought it was pretty bad. It got to the point that Regina and I just had to laugh - and boy did we laugh! We laughed 'til we cried. Not only did my arm get a workout that night (from lifting the beer to my lips) but so did my abs. Whew! Bob left his seat to find a restroom and get more water. He came back and told me our neighbors were standing outside the gate waiting for Lukas to leave the stage - they didn't want to hear him any better than they already could. LOL Need I say more? Before Lukas graced us with his absence, he informed us that he'd be back next week performing with his daddy. ?? OOOOHHHHHH! It all becomes crystal clear now! His daddy is Willie Nelson - can't stand him either. And Lukas has the same kind of voice, except his is worse. No lie, if you're on myspace you can go listen for yourself here.

Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day! Missy and Mom spontaneously dropped everything and came over to play. We always have the best time together - doing nothing. We had quite a few sessions of COL (crossing our legs) so we didn't POP (pee our pants)! And it's usually over really stupid stuff that later isn't even funny anymore! Missy and I picked up some fresh corn and tomatoes that afternoon. We had fresh tomato mozzarella paninis with fresh corn on the cob and cantaloupe. Soooo good! Later that evening we laughed some more - watching Jeff Dunham. That boy just ain't right.

I so needed that girl time and distraction from not being able to leave the house for over a week. Even though I've run a few errands and been to the gym a couple of time when Cari or Bob stayed with him, it's just knowing I can't pick up and go that's the worst. Cari and I haven't even started our shopping for her apartment and we move her in less than four weeks now. We can't go to dinner as a family, Cari and I can't go to lunch or the gym together. It's extremely frustrating. And yes, I know I have friends who would come sit with him so I could have a bit of freedom to go do something. But I have a really hard time with that. Peanut's my responsibility. I don't want anyone else having to deal with it. Everyone has a life and is busy - they don't need to spend their time coming to sit with my dog. So today we're on Day 6. He screwed it up last week on Day 7. I take him back for his recheck Monday - Day 10. I can't imagine the collar coming off then. If he did that kind of damage on Day 7 I just don't see his eye healing to the point that he can't hurt it again only three days later. On the other hand, I can't continue to monitor him 24/7 either. Most days I start out in a decent frame of mind, but by the evening I'm a grouch.

Cari's off to class this morning so I'm going to spend some time in my "studio" and get my beads out to make a candle bracelet for a birthday gift. Maybe I'll even finally make one for myself!

Later,

QB

Has it been that long?

Wow ... don't know where the summer has gone and why I haven't blogged in so long. As you can see I still haven't finished blogging (journaling) about CMA Fest. Will have to make time for that. Thank goodness I have notes to go by or I would be lost. Sigh ...

I also have pics of Morgan's birthday party to go through and print. It's just been a crazy summer. I must've had a premonition of that in spring. I took a leave of absence (LOL) from Bunco because I had a feeling it was going to be hard to fit in. That just wasn't like me - to not want to play Bunco. Life is always busy but you learn to make time for something important, right? Then in late May I decided I needed to let go of yet another "commitment" I loved - Stitch & Bitch on Fridays. We have been meeting on Friday mornings for about 4 years now and it's always been my therapy, my saving grace. I don't know why it's been so crazy this particular summer but it has. I've done very little knitting, no scrapping, no beading, very little reading, very little photography, etc. When Cari was in high school I always thought life would slow down (for me) as she got older. Apparently not!

Our trip to Nashville, getting ready for it and then recuperating from it, played its part in eating up some days, but we really haven't done much else this summer. Cari and I haven't even started shopping for her new apartment. And now with this thing with Peanut it's gotten nearly impossible. This "thing" with Peanut started on our return from Nashville. We could all tell he was out of sorts and just not right. Then again, it normally takes him a couple of days after spending time at Dad's since life is busier around there and he doesn't get as much time to rest. By Friday (we returned on Monday) he wasn't any better so I made an appointment with the vet for Monday. Immediately the vet noticed he was squinting one eye. Long story short (or shorter at least), he had an ulcer on his eye. He was put on eye drops 4x daily and an eye ointment 4x daily in addition to pain med and an oral antibiotic - with an appointment to be seen again in two days.

The fun begins ... Two days later the ulcer was no better and we were referred to an eye doctor. Surprisingly the specialist's office got us in on Friday. She prescribed three different types of eye drops (totaling 6x daily) and wanted to see him again in 10-14 days. Twelve days later the ulcer had eaten through his eye and it was full blown perforated. He needed surgery ... immediately. That was nine days ago. We go back this morning.

I can't begin to tell you how much fun we've had. We (it takes two of us) have now been putting drops in his eye for three and a half weeks now. He came home from surgery with the infamous cone and has had to be supervised 24/7, not even going outside alone. Even so I caught him Wednesday afternoon with his back paw up to his face and it looks like he's done something to his eye. I am so frustrated I'm ready to scream, cry, hit something, etc. We came so far and it looked like it was healing well - now it looks like crap again. Bob and I have tickets to go see BB King tonight. Cari has to work. We have to get a dog sitter to go to a concert. I just can't believe this.

I'm prepared to hear the worst at the vet this morning. But I'm just not sure what else can be done. Drops are not working. The cone isn't working. 24/7 supervision isn't working. I just can't continue to be chained to the house and put my life on hold indefinitely. It's not just the cost of surgery again, it's also putting a 14 year old dog through anesthesia again. I guess I'll find out this morning. Maybe it's not as bad as I think. Hopefully. I have been wrong before - once in a while.

"The Search" by Nora Roberts

Just finished Nora's latest, "The Search." I knew when I read the blip on her website I'd had to have the book as soon as it came out. There would be no waiting for this one to come out in paperback. It was soooo good! I've never read a bad Nora Roberts book, but I still have my favorites. This one will rank right up there with those (Blue Smoke, Birthright, Northern Lights). I breezed right through it - could've read it in 2 days if it wasn't for the distraction of dealing with Peanut's eye. When I'm thinking about the story while doing other things, that's one of the things that make a book irresistible for me. The story behind the mystery and romance was so interesting to me. Fiona (main character) leads a team of search and rescue dogs and does training as well. Of course there is a serial killer after her and a disgruntled wood worker who doesn't want to fall in love with her complicating the story. As always, the end (serial killer caught, they fall in love) is predictable but how they get there isn't. I loved it.