"Look Again"

"Look Again," by Lisa Scottoline was surprisingly good! I had not read anything by her before but ended up buying the book because it sounded pretty interesting. I didn't start the book until about 11pm (I usually read before turning out the light) Monday night. Even with only small windows of reading throughout the day (breakfast, lunch, waiting on dinner to finish, etc) I was on page 150 by dinner. It's an easy read, the print is not small and the story just kind of sucked me in. By the time I picked it up to eat lunch yesterday (Wednesday) nothing else was gonna get done until the last page had been read. Granted it wasn't the best book I've ever read and it's not on my five star list, but I liked it and will definitely look for more of Lisa's books.

I'm now finishing the 4th book in a series I started getting from Annie's Attic, "The Lady in the Attic." After receiving this last book in the mail yesterday (don't know how many are actually in the series), I canceled my membership. The books are nice (hardback) and not too long, easy to read ... but the stories are just lame. I mean, they're just okay. The books alone are $13, then they add $4.95 s/h which brings the total to nearly $19! After reading three of them, I can tell you they just aren't that good. If I was paying $10 I may continue my membership, but for $20 - nah.

Oh I did read a book on vacation too ... lemme see what that was. Hang on ... okay it was "Isle of Palms" by Dorthea Benton Frank. Again, this was a new author for me. It was interesting enough for me to turn the pages but it wasn't one of those books impossible to put down. The story takes place on the South Carolina coast outside of Charleston and is about a woman trying to get her life together. It had me laughing out loud quite often. The characters were quite likable and quick witted. I wouldn't say it's a "must read" but is an easy and entertaining read.

Think I'm going to my local second hand book store to see what else I can pick up of these two new authors ... will let you know what I find!

Move-in day ...

What a summer this has been! It sure started off with a bang - our Nashville trip - But then took a dive off the deep end. It's hard to wrap my head around the fact that for all intents and purposes, it's over.

Went to S&B this morning. Girlfriends. It's the perfect way to start off the weekend. I love my S&B peeps. They keep my sane - or try to. Actually, I think we all try to keep each other sane. Do you know what a blessing it is to have such an awesome support group and a safe place to just be yourself? I digress - I could go on and on about my peeps and how blessed I am. It's just that I haven't made it to many Friday mornings this summer and I can really tell. I'm anxious to get back to that particular part of my routine. But back to move in day ...


Basically, it went pretty smoothly. It was a l-o-n-g day but no glitches thank goodness. Saying goodbye is always tough for me. Knowing Cari is happy, though, makes it so much easier. She was so excited to move into her very first apartment - sharing with 3 roommates is going to be challenging at times but they'll all figure out how to make it work.


By the time we left that afternoon, Cari already had most of her bedroom put together. She had Bob hopping all over those walls hanging stuff up for her. It'll be pretty cool when we go back in a few weeks to see what else she's done. I know she'll have it feeling like home in no time. :)

Peanut update

The bloody cone finally came off yesterday. Peanut wore that thing for ... let me see ... from July 7 until yesterday, August 15. Usually it would've come off on or around July 26 but with Peanut's history of attacking his eye, I was too paranoid he'd get to it again - even with the cone on. If we hadn't gone out of town I probably would've taken it off sooner, but didn't want Mom and Dad to have to worry about him getting to his eye so just left it on while we were gone.

Since he had an appointment this morning I decided yesterday was a good time to take it off and groom and bathe him. I think he's done ok with it off. The doctor clipped that little finger of the patch that was supplying the blood supply. She said it looked good (although there are a couple of stitches that haven't dissolved completely) and he shouldn't need to be seen again for three months. We still have to continue these damn drops though, and she added the antibiotic drops back 3x a day for four days. I understand why but  ... ugh!! So that's where we are right now - hopefully he will continue to heal and life will get back to normal.

a mini vaca ...

We managed to squeeze in a 5-day get-a-way to Myrtle Beach before Cari's heads off to school. It's been one of those crazy summers, again, where we haven't gotten to do nearly enough of the fun things we had planned. I guess that's just life. This summer our curve ball was Peanut's eye issues. Life goes on - you just have to deal, right? So we dropped Peanut off at Mom and Dad's Sunday morning and head out to Myrtle Beach. I was SO ready to get the hell out of Dodge for a while. This was one vacation that wasn't "planned out." Our "plan" was to do nothing - the entire time. We haven't had one of those in a long time. Usually, we like to go somewhere new and explore - which is awesome, but it can also be exhausting. We walked on the beach, played in the pool, ate in some dives, read our books and just hung out. It was wonderful.

Some of the best fun we had was "planting cherry trees." This tradition began two years ago in Yosemite. We sat on the deck of our rental house seeing who could spit cherry seeds the farthest. It's amazing how much fun you can have doing something so simple. This year we had to exercise some patience waiting to spit our seeds in between people walking by. I imagine we got a few looks from people wondering what in the world we were laughing so hard about. 

We learned, though, that four days of that just isn't enough. It takes a few days just to unwind. By the time we really started getting relaxed, it was time to pack up and come home again. Oh well, it was something. Bob wants to go for two weeks next year. :) Fine with me! Anyway, here are a few pics from the trip ...

Now we're back home getting things together for Cari's move ... I'm sure I'll be back with fun stories about that!

til next time ...
QB

the "yewts" ...

So, we met "the boy" on our last day in Nashville. Strange how a series of events had to occur for us to meet. First, Matt had been vacation the week before and just arrived back home Saturday night. Unusually, he was called in to work the day shift (which he said doesn't happen) and it was on a weekend (which he said doesn't happen). Secondly, Cari and I didn't always go back to the hotel before the night concert at LP Field. Sunday we did. He was there. We talked for a half hour or so and then again while waiting for the shuttle to go back to LP Field. After four days of heat, humidity, exhaustion and fun we were beat and decided to leave the concert early. Got back to the hotel around 10pm - Matt's shift ended at 11pm. Cari and I flew home Monday, the Facebook chatting started Monday evening. The texting started two days later and they were talking non-stop on the phone by the end of the next week and he was already making plans for a visit to Va. Beach. When Cari told him about the Rascal Flatts concert July 30 he had his arrival date.

Cari had lots of things planned: the Rascal concert, meeting Nana and Papa, making him watch "My Cousin Vinny" (yeah, I know who hasn't seen that already?), lots of restaurants, Water Country and more. They didn't get to do everything but I guess that leaves something to look forward to for next time huh? The afternoon before his flight home we had a very small window to go shoot some pictures - even though it was sprinkling. By the time we arrived at our destination it was actually raining. Even so, we still had fun:

Looks like the visit went well. For now, life is good. :)

FREEDOM!!!!!

Tomorrow will be four weeks since the beginning of my incarceration at home with Peanut. I've gone through several different phases of grief: disbelief, anger, resentment and finally resigned acceptance. Yesterday, however, I moved into defiance. It's not that I feel the need to constantly run the roads, but the mere fact that I can't do anything, go anywhere without arranging for a Peanut sitter gets overwhelming at times. Therefore, I just quit even trying to do anything ... until yesterday. I went to the grocery store by myself and left him home alone. Today is Day 18 since his second surgery. He's still wearing the cone - I'm afraid to take it off because he still tries to rub at that eye occasionally. I'm paranoid, I know. I can't help it. BUT, I have gotten to the point that I'm done. Sacrificing my freedom for the past 4 weeks will have to have been enough. I'm leaving the cone on but I am no longer willing to provide 24/7 supervision. If he screws it up this time, at this point, he screws it up. I don't know what people do  in this position who have lives they don't have the "luxury" of putting on hold. Crating would not have been an answer. He could've messed his eye up with his back paw if he had been crated. I don't believe boarding him would have been enough because even in a crate he would need to be watched. So what would a person do? I don't know, but I do know I won't do this again - not for this length of time. If I had had any idea we'd still be dealing with this situation this long, I'd have been more proactive about other options. On a happier note ...

I got a small taste of freedom Friday night. Since Bob was on his 4-day golf trip, I had to take Peanut to my dad's Friday afternoon so I could go to the Rascal Flatts concert that evening. PITA, but ya do whatcha gotta do, right? The weather could not have been more perfect. The high was in the mid 80's that day and there was a delicious breeze too. To be on that lawn with good friends, listening to awesome country music (Chris Young, Kellie Picker and Rascal), sucking down a Blue Moon too? Well, life was pretty good. Cari had picked up Matt from the airport that afternoon (they met while we were in Nashville for CMA Fest) so he got to meet some of the crazy clan. Saturday he was introduced to Nana and Papa when we picked up Peanut. Dad said he didn't seem like a "dumb ass" and got two thumbs up. LOL So far the visit seems to be going well - they both seem to be pretty happy and have had fun getting to know each other better. Cari's introducing him to Water Country today. Can't wait to hear about that!

I'm really starting to look forward to our Myrtle Beach get-a-way. I desperately need some "me" time - time where I don't have to take care of everyone else. Less than a week later, though, we move Cari into her first apartment. That's gonna be bittersweet for me. I'm excited for her, but will really miss her around here. I wish we had had more time to play this summer and go shopping together. We had to cram most of a summer's worth of shopping into mostly one day last weekend - when the thermometer reached 105 degrees both days - and that doesn't take into account the heat index. Brutal doesn't even begin to describe how miserable it was. The pool table is piled high with her loot and we aren't done yet. We'll have a few days after Matt goes home before leaving for Myrtle Beach so maybe we'll get a few more things done. Time is just ticking away ...

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.