Laundry

Julie from Mom Taxi Julie was writing about her family treating her like a laundry maid. It made me chuckle and reminded me of something in my childhood.

Now when I tell you this, you need to remember I had 2 moms. 
Before my mom died she was very much a 50's housewife. Everything was done for me, laundry, ironing, clothes put away. 
All I ever had to do were my chores.

Then I got a new mom. Looking back I see how overwhelmed she was. She was a young mom, with an instant teenager of 13 and a 11-year-old along with her own daughter that was 6. She was under 30 at this point. 
Then she had 2 children with my dad over the next 2 years.
So now I am 15 years old when this went down.
So my laundry while done, was not always ironed. There were piles of ironing that needed to be done. 

I was frustrated one day when I couldn't find my white blouse that I was looking for. When I asked my new mom about this she told me to look at the laundry pile waiting to be ironed. She didn't jump up immediately as my mom would have at that moment. She continued to sit there and feed my baby sister in her high chair. How dare her! Her job is to iron and wash my clothes. I flipped out and as only a teenager can do I was rude. It wasn't ironed and I was trying to get dressed for school.  I went back to the kitchen holding my shirt and said, "You never have anything done around here and I am going to be late for the bus because now I have to iron this." I stomped off to my room with the iron and shirt and quickly ironed it. Oh boy, I was mad. I kept thinking my mom ironed once a week why doesn't she just do that?

When I got home I was told that I would be ironing my own clothes from now one whether I liked it or not. When I got to my room a pile of clothes laid on my bed like an offering. Boy, she was quick to go through that pile of laundry wasn't she? Those were my thoughts but I left them unsaid thank God.  I would also be to helping her by ironing my own clothes I was told.  She talked about all she had to do and at the time I felt she was trying to make me feel bad about it. I was 15 and thinking, it's not my problem but smart enough to know to just shut the hell up. 

My new mom would continue to wash & dry my clothes and then put them on my bed to do with as I will. She was livid with me. Looking back I would be livid at me as well. Damn brat. She now had 5 kids, overwhelmed and no one helping her including my father.
I was so thrilled when my dad remarried thinking I would not have to do this shit anymore and now I had to do it again. On the inside I was stomping my feet like the cantankerous child I was being, outside I took it and said I was sorry.

So at 15 years old I had to now iron my own clothes. Oh, boy did I hate to iron. But from then on if I was wearing a shirt under a sweater I would only iron the collar and cuffs. The rest I felt could be miserably wrinkled and look like I slept in it for all I cared. 
Back in the 70's big collar and cuffs were the rage so if those were crisp I was good to go. Today's fabrics would have made me a happy girl back then. Everything needed to be ironed back in the day. I was a lazy teenager who liked to look good so ironing had to be done but I wasn't happy about it. I was a damn brat. But I didn't dare complain because I knew they would then tell me to wash my own clothes.I realized it was best to just shut the hell up even at 15.

I learned not to say shit like that ever again didn't I? Well, you would think wouldn't you?  I had some lapses while a teen.  My younger sister Pam who was 3 years younger than me laughed her head off about this. When we were in our room she told me that she won't be saying that to our new mom. Pam loved it when I was in trouble and she wasn't because normally it was the other way around. To this day this is something that comes up when the family is together. My mom and I laugh about it now but neither of us was laughing back then!

While my real mom would never have let ironing pile up, she also didn't have more than 2 children. And if I had said that to my real mom, her wrath would have been far worse than what I got that is for certain! So when I was 15 and dramatic I blamed all of this on my new mom when in fact it didn't hurt me one bit to do my own ironing or to realize that my real mom would have been far more punishing than what I got. 

From that day forward if I was upset about the way she was doing things I would never say. I would ask nicely if we could do this or that and wait for her response. Once for cheerleading, I had to have some things cleaned by a certain day. I asked if I could wash these myself. She said, "certainly" But what I did was only those 3 items. I didn't put any other colors in the wash with my 3 articles of clothing. No, I was a teenager and only thought of myself. So when my new mom realized what I had done she asked me why I didn't wash all the other same colors that were next to the washing machine. It was a lightbulb moment. I realized I had never even thought about that. Now I laugh that I was a typical self-absorbed teenager. Thankfully she just shook her head and did not yell, but calmly told me next time to think of the others in the family, to not waste water and to add to my 3 items to make a full load. (With 7 people in the house there was always laundry)

I look back at myself sometimes as a teen and just shudder. While compared to things you hear today I wasn't a bad kid. Oh, I was mouthy....hey imagine that. 
I wanted to do things I was never allowed and that caused a lot of commotion with my father. I was very developed and my father wanted me to wear a sheet over me instead of hot pants and a tight top over the DD's. Many many fights over my clothing. Even in my back yard he wanted me covered up instead of running around in my bikini. I never understood any of that with him. Now I do, but still feel he was wrong because it caused me years of body shame.

I believe my new mom was right to do what she did. I think that taught me a good lesson. One, to shut up. Two, that I can contribute to the household and help. It took me to age 18 to realize it but I finally got it. 

I'd like to add that when I say my real mom vs my new mom, it doesn't mean she isn't a real mom. It is just to clarify the two moms. My 2nd mom has been my mom longer than I got to have the 1st mom who gave birth to me. She may not have changed my diapers, but she has been there for all the angst of teenagerhood, taking care of me when sick, high school drama, boyfriends, marriage, divorce, and marriage again to the love of my life. She is my mom just not by birth. 
She can push my buttons just like if she had given birth to me. She's very good at that, she's had a lot of practice. While I refer to her as her first name because it's habit now, she is undeniably my mother.  
Besides she gave me a couple new sisters whom I adore, Jennifer and Stephanie. 

Tuesday Randon Items

**A woman had an appointment with Rick at 1 pm. 

He arrived at 1 pm on the dot.

She said, "Oh I'm not ready, I need to bathe first."  She wants her one and only bathtub refinished and she knew he was coming at 1 pm and she waited to bathe?

Now if she hadn't told me her life story about being obese I would think she was another one of those women who just want to be naked in front of Rick ...again.

However, that was not the case. He called her on his way when he left the job before her to say he was on his way.  He was livid and sitting in his van waiting for this nut job to finish bathing and he called me to vent. 

I can honestly say this was a first.

When she was done with her bath he went into her bathroom to begin. 

She had a major leak which he pointed out to her because we can't do this if there are leaks. (mind you I went over this two times over the phone)

She told Rick it was because she just bathed it does that. Rick, of course, did not buy that but thought he'd do his trick. He went in and began to clean this and he put a rubber glove on the faucet. It filled up before he got everything out of his bag.  He called her in and showed her. She said you must not have tightened the faucet handles. He said you turned them off and he showed her how tight they were and that it was still leaking. She began to cry. She said I just had this fixed. Rick explained why he couldn't do the tub and what would happen if he did. (why waste your money lady?) She was so upset that she felt "taken" by the person who fixed this. Rick told her to just call the plumber and tell him it isn't fixed and what is going on. She said, "it wasn't a real plumber" He suggested she call a "real plumber" this time so it is fixed properly. She began to wail.  When I questioned Rick on "wail" He imitated her. Oh yes, it was wailing.

My goodness people are friggin' crazy. So we'll go back after she gets this all repaired correctly. 

**We had a couple of cousins stop by on their way home because this was the 1/2 way point. (They did this both ways.) As we sat on the patio yesterday talking about all kinds of things over breakfast, one of them remembers when Rick and I were just friends. That began the stories of all of Rick's bimbo's du jour that I was witness to. We had some good laughs. They think it's funny that Rick and I talk as we do and that he tells me the things that he does and sees and vice versa. I always say we were friends for a long time before we were more than just friends. Why change? He knew about the men that made me cry, I knew about his bimbos.  Sometimes I was even his wing man. Those nights were fun and funny.  I still point out a nice rack for him and that makes people giggle. Look he's not dead, he will look, he just can't touch anymore. I know I have written many a blog posts of his funny stories with these bimbos. 

**Yesterday morning at 3:55 am Izzy was full of energy.  She woke me up and I made her go back to bed. She went to her bed and then came over to me again in less than 30 minutes. I mean to tell you she was playful. I can tell she is feeling so much better. But at that hour I was not feeling playful. She had to go out so off we went. Her schedule is very off and because the medication can make them constipated she hasn't been going when she normally would. The last try was at 11 pm before bed. 

I take her out wearing frightful things with bed head. 

I get outside and she wants to walk. I don't mean a block - oh no she wants to do her normal walking. She isn't allowed to do that. Do you know how hard it is to make an 80lb dog chill out if they are full of energy? There I am trying to reason with a dog like an idiot and I hear a giggle. I turn around, 4 doors down is my neighbor Elizabeth with her Scottie dog. 

Looking just like me. I said, "good morning."  

She said, "I see Izzy is feeling better!"  

She said that we should probably get together sometime in clothes that one doesn't wear to bed or with our hair sticking straight up. I told her that sounded good but how will you recognize me? We laughed and I walked past her home to go as far as the end of the block. And then another woman walks out to her car dressed impeccably of course because she is leaving for work. She said, "Good morning" I didn't want to make eye contact but I did and said hello to her too. 

I mean really, it's 4 am and what the hell are all these people doing outside at this hour?

As we rounded the corner because that just wasn't enough walking for her, I see the man who lives behind us coming home. He is a police detective in the DC. Would he really be working those kinds of hours? Of course, he waves and puts his window down. For the love of God why must I see everyone when I am a hot mess like this? He asked about Izzy and how she was doing. I did not want to chat. Besides, I wasn't wearing a bra and I really didn't want to have to fold my arms and stand there. Thankfully Izzy was pulling the leash and I said, "She's fine as you can see and she really has to go" as I was walking away. Whew! She finally went to the bathroom and she wanted to continue walking. 

I made her come home before she hurt herself or I hurt her. 

She was just a very playful puppy all morning. She then slept from 10 am to 3 pm. I think that was too much for her after all these sedentary days since surgery. 

I'd like to know why she gets these burst at that hour. I told her to have them after 6a. I am not sure she understands me, I don't speak dog well.

** Here is a joke that you may have heard or seen. I got it from an old travel industry friend. I loved it. Sadly when I began my career and starting at the bottom I worked at an airline and things people said were not much different than this. It was amazing that they were so damn dumb, and to think they breed. :-)

**A Plane is on it's way to Toronto when a blonde in economy class gets up and moves to the first class section and sits down.

The flight attendant watches her do this and asks to see her ticket.

She then tells the blonde that she paid for economy class and that she will have to sit in the back.

The blonde replies, "I'm blonde, I'm beautiful, I'm going to Toronto and I'm staying right here.

The flight attendant goes into the cockpit and tells the pilot and co-pilot that there is a blond bimbo sitting in first class that belongs in economy and won't move back to her seat.

The co-pilot goes back to the blonde and tries to explain that because she only paid for economy she will have to leave and return to her seat.

The blonde replies, "I'm blonde, I'm beautiful, I'm going to Toronto and I'm staying right here."

The co-pilot tells the pilot that he probably should have the police waiting when they land to arrest this blonde woman who won't listen to reason.

The pilot says, "You say she is a blonde huh? I'll handle this I"m married to a blonde. I speak blonde.

He goes back to the blonde and whispers in her ear, and she says, "Oh I'm sorry" and gets up and goes back to her seat in economy.

The flight attendant and co-pilot are amazed and asked him what he said to make her move without any fuss.

I told her "first class isn't going to Toronto"

**Have you seen this all over facebook?

I sent it to a friend and she wrote back - "do they have this in gray pubic hair?" 

Oh my goodness she makes me laugh. Go ahead, blow it up and get a good look at this. Pretty clever in a way.

A Liar and A Thief

We heard a phrase this weekend that reminded us of a crazy woman we knew when we had a lake house.

The first year of owning our lake house we decided to try renting it a few weeks a year for some additional income. We thought we'd use this income to remodel and update the house. We learned early on that renting was not for us.
But before that realization, we rented it for a week at a time.

We had to hire a cleaning woman or company.
Now, remember this is south of here in hillbilly land.
It's not like Merry Maids is there.
There were no cleaning companies as we know in a city.
Our realtor told us of a woman who was trying to find a job maybe she'd want to do this. We met her and while I wasn't thrilled with her bible thumping answers we were desperate and hired her. I should know better, go with my gut, or I will regret it. Oh boy did regret it.

After a rental group left our home we were going to go down there for the weekend. We arrived and she was still there cleaning. I felt weird watching someone clean my home and Rick kept saying, let it go, let's just go down to the dock. Still felt weird whether I was in my home and she was cleaning or I'm in the back yard with my toes in the water and she's in my house cleaning.
He just did not understand that.

When we went inside she was almost done and gathering up her things to put in her car. Then she came over to the kitchen table and asked if we could talk.
I immediately thought she wanted to quit. I was rather happy thinking that was what was coming. That would have been far easier.
She kept telling me she wanted to put bibles in all the bedrooms. I told her no.
She said we needed Christian bibles. I said, No. I asked, what about our Jewish friends or Buddhist? She went off on having bibles and why this is good.
I said, "No. This is not a hotel, this is my home. Let's drop it."

Rick walked in and sat down and she began with him while I was at the refrigerator. Rick laughed and as only he can do and get away with.
He says, "No way. This is a private home and we are not putting bibles in every room. Besides if they are that religious they will bring their own.
That comment did not stop her. She went on and loudly proclaims to Rick, "God has spoken to me Rick and he said I should put bibles in all the bedrooms"
Rick leaned forward and grabbed her forearm and says so softly and convincingly "Oh my goodness he spoke to me too!! He told me not to do such a thing at my home. Maybe he was trying to tell you to put them in all of your bedrooms. Have you thought of that?"
She backed right off.  She never mentioned it again.
She would always listen to Rick "the man"

Then one weekend after a family was renting our home she did what we asked of her. She called us to report the losses, the damage etc. She called and said the home was in fairly good shape except there was a stain on the sofa. I asked if it came out.  She said it did, but it was a stain. I said I heard you. She repeated, "Peg it was a stain. I think they had a real good time on the sofa."  Then it hit me what she was talking about. She thinks this is semen and that is what she is trying to say. But why not just say it? So I ask, "Do you mean you cleaned up semen?"
She gasped and said, "Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior".
I laughed. I told her it was fine, thank you for cleaning it up." Was there still a stain? She said No, I got it out with the fabric cleaner you had under the sink.
I again thanked her for all the extra work.
(it wasn't extra but apparently, she was traumatized that someone had sex on my sofa) I am not certain that is what this stain ever was but I let it go. It's gone.
(In all honesty I wasn't thrilled about it either. I just hated renting my home so much.)

At the end of the year, we began noticing things missing from our home.
Miss Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior gal was stealing from us.
We really didn't think renters would steal light bulbs....26 of them in fact.
When Rick approached her, her face turned beet red, she stammered and hem'd and haw'd. Finally, Rick said, "Just be honest, you're fired either way."

She spilled her guts, she did steal all the light bulbs and the salad bowl and some things from the game room. Rick later said to me he should have asked her if God told her to steal from us. I thought that was funny and he could have gotten away with that. She loved Rick, me, not so much. When she had questions she would say she had to ask "the man of the house," I think she thought it was 1950.
If she was talking to me about something she would say, "Well I will ask Rick."
I would say it wasn't necessary I just answered you. She would repeat that she would need to speak to a man.  (this woman was at the very least 15 years younger than me) Rick asked her to leave after her confessional and after she handed him the keys to our home.  (We changed the locks anyway.)

Once she even told me she never wanted to be a career woman like me. She said it was such disgust it shocked me. I said that's good you should do whatever you wish to do but this career woman pays you so be careful. Yes I was bitchy but by this time I had had enough of her. She always took a tone with me and I always let it go. This day I had had enough.

Miss Holier than Thou who was constantly quoting 'her version of scripture' was not a good person.  If she were poor and needed these things we would have given them to her. But stealing did not sit well with us. And we did give her a wood stove we were removing from the house because she said she always wanted one. We were going to sell it but gave it to her instead.
Her husband left her with 2 kids and we thought if she wanted it and needed it let her have it. We gave her the microwave she loved because we were putting one over the stove. We gave her so many gifts and then also things from the remodel that she said she wanted and we tried to help her out in so many situations and this is how she repays us. Christian my ass. 

Here is what I have learned. Those who must tout they are Christian loudly to everyone are the least likely to be 'Christian like' in my eyes. Those that must tout anything are generally not what they tout. I never do this or do that. The likelihood that they do this or that are extremely high if they are touting it.  Like a person who says, "Oh I never lie." They are lying to you right now. They are telling you what they are - pay attention. And remember the biggest tell when lying, the higher the voice goes the bigger the lie.
Trust me on this one. It will never fail you.

But from the day of the semen supposedly on the sofa Rick and I have used that phrase jokingly. I told a friend of mine this story and she too will leave me a message and it just says, "thinking of you today, you know J.C is my lord and savior. LOL"
She and I both find religion off-putting so we find it funny.

Finally Friday

I've been immersed in work and Izzy.
Let's start with Izzy because I like her more than work.
Here is a pic of her incision.

Yesterday when we brought her home she was very loopy. It was sad and funny at the same time. Looking at her shaved hip and leg I keep thinking how itchy that will be when the hair grows in. Rick said maybe it won't be like that for her.
I am confident it will be. See below how much they shaved from her leg. They also shaved her front legs where the IV's went in. Poor thing is going to be an itch machine. Her skin feels weird to me. I told Rick it looks like she needs moisturizer. He about died. He laughed and said, "Margaret you are nuts!"
Yes, I may be but I still think she needs moisturizer. So pffff.... 

Yesterday she attempted to scratch her chin area but just couldn't get the leg up there to scratch. We watched her try two times. Then I got up and scratched it for her, I felt so bad for her. She was happy now. Why the dummy didn't think to move to the other foot I am not certain but I helped her and she was content with that.

She can't do stairs for 2 weeks. I live with nothing but stairs. They suggested we sleep downstairs or get a baby gate to stop her from trying to be with us. I am going shopping for a baby gate this evening or tomorrow. In the meantime, we alternate the sleeping downstairs to every other day for one of us. This way someone gets good nights sleep on the "other" day. Last night was my turn to be on the sofa and to not get much sleep. She was incredibly restless. Then at 1:30a, she stood upright in her bed and high tailed it to the front door like her ass was on fire. Fastest we've seen her move with 3 legs in months. I open the door and she goes to the tree lawn and pees the longest pee in the history of pees. Oh, my goodness. I am standing outside in nothing but a night shirt which is actually an old shirt of my husbands that comes to my knees. I am praying no one is out at 1:30 am to witness this attire.

After Izzy was done she wanted to walk a bit. What the hell? No, you aren't allowed to walk. Come inside you crazy dog. The last thing I wanted to do after my knee surgery was a walk. What is the deal with her? She is obviously in pain but wants to go smell all the trees in the neighborhood in the wee hours of the morning. I assumed all the drugs have worn off now and she was awake. 

I get her inside and make her go to her bed. She sat in it and then stared at me. I closed my eyes but could feel her staring at me. I opened one eye and sure enough...that made me laugh. So there we were at 1:30ish, her tail wagging, and my tail dragging but I rubbed her and relaxed her back to sleep. For a little while anyway.  

This two weeks is gonna be difficult keeping her so still and quiet. She can only walk to do her business. No walking for fun. No fun period. For any of us, it appears.

Here are some x-ray photos that were cool. Well to me anyway.
You see Dr. Blue Eyes (yeah, I named him -got a problem with that? ) had a piece of equipment for lack of a better word that showed the dog's legs/hip. The parts were moving but not 3 dimensional. He put the dog legs in the position that Izzy's were and why this was causing pain. I saw the tiny threadlike piece that was torn off that connects the two bones and makes them move. The front bone went too far forward with it torn. So they put in a plate and cut some of this bone so that it will now move as it was meant to without this ligament. The plate moves the bone in place and the rods in her leg, of course, keeps this all in place.
There is a slight bone fracture that occurs and that too will heal and grow together over time.

This first one shows you how far forward the bottom bone is at the knee.

 This one shows you how it is moved back so they connect and work properly without pain after surgery healing.

 This is the side view where they are all in place and hopefully stay in place.
Ah, my bionic dog. 

Because she is not to move about a great deal and be sedentary we were told to cut back her food again. So she gets 2/3 cups of food for each meal. At 11 pm when she woke up she came to me on the sofa and put her face on my leg. Oh, I know that look, that look is begging for food. While she was sleeping we heard her belly growl and we laughed. It wasn't funny now that she was awake.
Because pooping is so difficult for her because of the way she must squat I didn't want to give her broccoli or any of the other things we give her for treats to keep her weight down. Finally, after an hour of begging, I gave a treat - only 4 pieces of kibble. Nothing really. But she took them and then laid down. Whew, I fooled you and you fell for it. YIPEE for me, I outsmarted a dog.

Because our first floor is all wood floors this has proven a bit difficult for the dog when trying to get up only having one back foot. She was slipping all over yesterday. I had visions of her tearing her other leg right then. So I put down some old rugs all over the place. It looks crazy when you come in the house but I don't care. She will walk on the rugs to avoid slipping and that is all that matters. If you ring my bell and find this disgusting because nothing matches, well you can just leave. 

The good news? Insurance sent me an email today. With the exception of $95 for the initial exam which is never covered,  I have been reimbursed 90% for all of this. It is being deposited into my account today the email states and sometimes takes up to 5 business days for some reason. Then, of course, I turn around and pay my charge card which I had to use to pay for this. It was $3921.15. 

Rick is seldom right as he likes to say, but I'm telling you this is by far the best thing I have ever done by listening to him telling me we must have dog insurance. I thought he was so full of shit. But now, not so much. We couldn't have paid for this otherwise unless we did the Care Credit that was offered. Basically, that is a loan that is offered for veterinary care and you pay a monthly payment to pay it off. 

Here's to an uneventful quiet weekend. I am throwing a few back to celebrate Rick being right on doggy insurance and saving our asses. 😃

Doggy Story

This little girl had surgery today.

She had quite the traumatic morning.
Yesterday afternoon was no better for her.

Because this was a new place she was excited to get out of the car to explore.
Whereas at her normal vet she will refuse to get out of the car when she realizes where she is.

We arrived with enough time to allow her to smell every blade of grass before going in the door. Then we checked in and sat down. It hit her at that moment that this was a vet's office and she was not happy. She hides under the chair and begins to shake. She shakes so much that you would think she was immersed in ice water. 

They take us back to a room and she won't look at the vet tech. She is up against Rick's leg and is staring at me to his left. She will not look forward at the tech at all. The tech is finding this very funny. I am feeling terrible for Izzy.

The Vet comes in and now she is looking at me like, please take me out of her.
God this kills me.
The Dr was very nice. A handsome man built like a ball player with ice blue eyes. So if I have to be at the vet this helps. 

He does his exam and sure enough Miss Izzy has a torn ACL. Not partial as orginally thought. The vet shows us how this will play out on 2 items. 
I learned so much. It was all very helpful.
We agreed on the surgery for this morning.

We were then given a tour of the hospital and where Izzy will be after the surgery, how she is monitored and every room they have. They answered all our questions and everything seemed too good to be true.   Izzy, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with this tour, she wanted out of here. She and Rick finally went outside and I did the rest of the tour. 

We arrived at 7 am as requested. After checking in Izzy and Rick went back into her dog run, I couldn't. By the time we were leaving a tech came out and let us know she was already given her meds so she will be out shortly so don't worry about her she is relaxed now. 
She was the first surgery. They said it would be 1.5-2hrs.
They would call us or text us to let us know when she was in recovery.

We got home at 8 am. It was so weird and quiet. But I knew the good part of all this was no dog walking and I could take off my bra and let the girls be free all day.....tee hee. Working from home has its advantages. 

At 10:30 we got a text that Izzy was well and in recovery. They reminded us to call Dr. Morris at 4 pm for an update. We will be able to pick her up tomorrow morning.

So far the hardest thing was not feeding her this morning. As she laid on the floor I was rubbing her belly and it was growling. Now when we don't feed her on time, she will do this below. She will stare at you until you feed her. She will stare at you and then get closer and stare at you.  So we had a lot of this going on this morning. Then we tricked her. We said, "Wanna go for a ride?" Which to her means "we're going swimming!!"

But there was no swimming and boy she was not happy. Stubborn ole gal she is.

She will be either mad at us when we pick her up or she will be so happy. 
We aren't sure how this will go. 

This is an 8-week recovery. 2 weeks of barely more than going out to pee/poo.
Then at 4 weeks, she will go back to have new x-rays and begin some light swimming. She can walk more at that point but still nothing big. At 8 weeks she will have her last check up and she should be fine. 

8 weeks from now will be our vacation. So we sure hope she is fine for this or we will cancel. We aren't going to go on a water vacation and have her cry because we won't let her go in the water. It would be miserable for us all.

The bad news is that this will probably happen again on the other side they told us. Everyone has told us this. How awful is that? I don't get it either no matter how many times they explained why. Rick was so smug that this wasn't going to happen to Izzy because she was exercised so much. Every vet would say she was so muscular and what kind of exercise did we do, yada, yada, yada. Our neighbor dog who had this happen only walks 2 blocks a day if that. So smug Rick was like, "this is not going to happen to Izzy" 
That bit him in the ass didn't it? That's what he gets for being so smug.

Surgery

My dog is not any better. 
She can not put weight on this right back leg.
She is in a heap of pain and it is gut wrenching to witness.

They told us to wait until all her pain meds were done.
I called bullshit on that. This happened 9 days ago. She is absolutely no better.
X-rays do not show torn ligaments. If she had a full tear it may show that her knee is not in the proper place or something but a partial tear would never show up on an X-ray.

The ER vet told us after her meds they could sedate her and feel it if was torn.
Why are we waiting? Her meds will last another 2 weeks for heaven's sake. The poor thing is miserable and in such pain.

I spoke to my neighbor Jackie. Her dog tore her ACL while playing with my dog in my kitchen. I witnessed that. Oh my was it horrible. I felt like I broke her dog since I was babysitting her. That was a fun call to make. I'm watching your dog and now she can't walk. Dreadful day. But at least now I know what I should be looking for or so I thought.

Jackie came down and looked at Izzy and she brought Izzy's BFF, Libby with her. It was like Libby just knew that Iz was not well and didn't try to do their running hugging game. They normally get all excited and run in circles with each other and then stand up and kind of hug. It's funny to see. This is the only dog she will do it with. They met as puppies at 7 months old. 
Last night Libby came in and ran to Izzy who was under the coffee table. Izzy's tail was wagging so fast but she didn't get up. Libby laid down with her. It was so damn cute. I wish I had thought to take pictures to show you.
Izzy sat up and she and Libby had their paws together and they just sat there all calm and tails a waggin'.

Jackie said if it was a partial tear as Libby had the 2nd time she went through this she could put her leg down but could not do weight bearing. When she had a full tear she could not put her leg straight down, it was bent at the knee joint and up against her. So Jackie came up with the same diagnosis Rick and I did.
A partial ACL tear.

Jackie told us about this referral vet clinic in Manassas. It is next to the Vet ER in Manassas, which sadly we are all too familiar with. Izzy had 2 stays there as a puppy.  Jackie told us that this is their specialty. The only reason she didn't have the surgery there was the cost. ($4,100) When she told them she couldn't afford this they sent her to the veterinary school at the University of Virginia. Jackie did go there (2 hrs south in Charlottesville VA) and it was a very good experience and cost about 55% less.
The veterinary surgeon did the surgery with the students which is why the cost is far less. (my regular vet said the cost would be around 5k....yikes)

We have dog insurance. I know I hear you gasping. People think you are nuts when you tell them you have pet insurance.
We got it when she was 5 months old and Rick said it would be worth it when I balked. It has paid for itself many times over. But now we only have to pay 10% of that bill. (Our deductible was met at the ER visit 9 days ago) $410.00 is far better than $4,100.00. I will put it on a charge card and normally we get paid from insurance in a week. (if only people insurance was this easy) It cost of her monthly insurance is the same as Rick buying a bottle of his favorite tequila. So we have spent that amount of money in far worse ways as I see it.

At least it's Friday.😏

Today

Grunting while you play

I was reading It's a Crazy World and she was discussing her love of tennis and watching the French Open. I commented that I just CAN NOT watch tennis due to all the grunting and moaning.

Look I find it distracting and unnecessary. If a baseball player can hit a small ball 495 ft ball with his bat with such power that the velocity is 118 mi per hr and not grunt, these little tennis boys can do the same!  My goodness, I realize they are like ants in comparison to the ballplayers in size but that also means they don't hit it at the same speed or with the same power, so knock it off and stop the damn grunting.
I no longer ever watch tennis. The grunting is just too annoying. I tried this weekend. 15 minutes and I was about to scream. So off it went and I listened to music as I cleaned and then thankfully baseball was on. 😀

Imagine watching bowling, (okay no one would but...) can you imagine every time they drop that 16lb ball onto the floor they grunt as they hurl it down the lane? Or every time an NBA player runs down the floor he grunts because he is winded and then heaven forbid has to throw a ball into a small hole? I've watched boxing matches with less grunting. Those wussy tennis boys have to grunt when they hit a little yellow ball, imagine if Mike Tyson belted them one. I bet they'd make some real noises then. Ah, it's fun to make fun of them but in all seriousness, it is annoying as shit and until they stop no one in my home will ever watch tennis again. Yes, my husband used to enjoy watching tennis, he quit as well.
Yes, we have tried muting it but something is missing. And don't say the grunts.
So we just stopped.  One less thing to watch I suppose. Or as Rick said, "If I want to hear grunting I will bend over and tie my shoes" That made me giggle.

I was knee deep in baseball all weekend. No grunting involved and my team kicked ass. I sure didn't think they would do all that well this year. I am very pleasantly surprised. Speaking of surprises. Matt Holliday. Oh, my goodness this man's forearms make me swoon. I do like me a nice forearm.  He is a stocky well-built specimen that makes me happy to watch. I don't watch much National League baseball so when he was with the Cardinals I didn't see him much. I knew of him of course. Everyone in baseball knows of him. But oh my, now that I watch him every day I do enjoy this man's build. He didn't grunt once this whole weekend when he hit 3 home runs either.  Go figure. :-)

Potato Chips Anyone

I have had two very different lives growing up.
From 0 - 13 was one life. (BMD)
13 on was another life. (AMD)

I have always called it BMD and AMD.
(before mom died and after mom died)
Different foods.
Different discipline
Different attention or lake thereof
Just different in every way you can fathom.
As a kid, those differences all seemed so glaringly huge.
It was a complete 180 in every sense.

I was so thrilled to have this new mom because that meant I no longer had to be a caregiver to all and cook and chief bottle washer. I could be a kid again. But boy did we have some changes. It didn't always go as smooth as the Brady Bunch.
It was never fighting or such things but it wasn't seamless and easy like they show you on TV. But as on TV feelings are pushed down, parents didn't ask about your feelings and you dealt with it.

My birth mom made everything from scratch except bread. And veggies were grown and swapped in the family. Uncle Joe had great tomatoes who in turn gave them to mom and she made sauce and pies for him. Stuff like that. He worked in a bread factory and he gave her rolls and bread. I always remember family sharing the bounty and it wasn't like we all lived nearby but it was just something they all did.

Pasta, cakes, pies, cookies, pastries, soups, etc.were all things we did not buy at a store. We never had junk food. No boxes of any kind of food. All homemade.
On any given Sunday my Uncles and Aunts came over and all the cousins. As we kids played softball and other assorted outdoor games, the adults drank, ate and smoked.  I remember a time that this was going on and our garage was turned into the place for the keg, the table of food and the coolers of pop.
Lots of family and lots of kids.
That was the only time we had pop and it was never Pepsi or Coke or anything we longed for that we saw on TV. No, it was Fanta or Shasta or some horrible pop that my mom got cheaply. There would even be potato chips, pretzels etc. My sister and I loved when company was there because we got to sneak chips and junk food. Otherwise, that kind of food just wasn't in our home regularly.

Then mom dies. That began our introduction to foods outside our home for my sister and I.  This reared its head in so many ways.This was only one of them.
As I have told the story here before, I never knew you could buy all this stuff in a store so after the shock of that was over I learned that others eat potato chips all the time, not just parties. WHAT? You drink pop for dinner and not milk? You come home from school and eat junk? We got fruit, a cookie or if lucky 2 cookies, milk or just wait until dinner.

Going to my Aunt Dee-Dee's was always such fun. She was single and spoiled us rotten. She was my mom's sister and my mom certainly knew we were spoiled there and she let us be. That was the fun of going to Aunt DeeDee's.
She would make us blue cheese dip which I LOVED. We had greasy burnt Wise potato chips and Pepsi. My sister and I would get so excited if we were staying overnight because we knew this was going to be our junk food night.  It was always the same and that is what we loved. Even if we didn't finish our dinner, she'd let us have potato chips.

Once while at my Aunt Dee Dee's I had 2 bottles of Pepsi with my sister. Which means I probably had one full bottle myself. I didn't feel so great after that but I would never have said a word to anyone. We could eat until we had a belly ache. Of course, if we got one we'd never say anything because my sister and I knew we'd never get to do this again. We even learned to make this dip ourselves and Dee Dee would let us. We would take the food out of her fridge and begin to make it and for some reason, she thought that was funny. It was gorgonzola cheese, cream cheese, and milk and I got to hold the mixer. Funny how that is something both my sister and I liked as a kid. Not many kids like blue cheese. Not even a milder kind like gorgonzola.

Then I got a new mom. I remember when she bought groceries for the first time.
My sister came into our shared bedroom and said, "You gotta see what this woman just bought. C'mon"  She took me into our pantry and pointed to corn curls, potato chips, pop and macaroni and cheese in a box!  Our new mom walked into the kitchen and my sister asked, "Are we having a party this weekend?"  She tilted her head and said, "No" but I assume now that she had to be wondering why she asked her that. My sister looked at me with her eyebrows up and we both ran into our bedroom.  My sister was so giddy. She said, "Do you think we can eat junk anytime we want to now?"  I told my sister to ask her.
I wasn't going to.

Instead, my sister asked my father at dinner. His response did not surprise my sister or me. "What the hell are you talking about?" Our new mom asked if we were referring to the groceries she brought home? YEP. She said, "why of course you can eat them. After your dinner."  My sister and I were giddy. Chips any damn time we wanted.

But what is most interesting to me is that neither of us really like chips at all.
Oh sure we'll eat them but it's not something either of us loves or buy all the time.
Although my sister drinks pop I don't unless there is liquor in it. :-)
And I don't drink liquor with pop so there ya go.

Could you have snacks or junk food whenever you wanted?

Feeling Left Out

I think Izzy has felt left out.  With all my medical exams, tests and BILLS she felt she had to be included. So she too now has medical bills, tests, medication, and pain. Welcome to the club Iz, it's a bad bad club.

Yesterday Rick had the afternoon off so he took his fishing poles and he and Izzy head on down to do some fishing. Because she was not swimming she was pacing around the pond and whimpering so he would throw in her toy.

Rick gave up and put down his fishing pole down and grabbed her toy.
As she pushed off to jump into the water she let out a very loud yelp.
Not like the yelp of catching her tail in the door, he explained to me, but far worse.

Of course, Rick freaked out yet Izzy continued to swim away to catch her toy.
She is obsessed! Rick fell into the water a week ago with Izzy and ruined his phone. So he threw his phone from his pocket to the grassy area and tried to get her while fully clothed. That must have been a sight to behold.

When she got out of the water she collapsed.
She was whimpering and trying to get up. She couldn't.
He lifted her and put her in the car.
He went straight to our vet who works at a veterinary clinic that is also an ER for animals. Rick text me to let me know what was happening.

I called the veterinary office so they could meet Rick in the parking lot since she couldn't walk. By the time he got there she was shaking as he has never seen before. She would not get out of the car. (yes, she hates going to the vet and we don't know why they are so nice to her)
The veterinary techs finally got her on a stretcher and rolled her in.

In the meantime, he calls me to tell me to bring the leash. Ah, you have my car.
I can't drive your big work vehicle and even if I could you have the keys.
Just as I say this Gary shows up in the other company vehicle to give me his checks and paperwork for the day. I asked him to drive me to the vet.
Thankfully it is only about 12 miles away.

I get there and they bring me to the exam room. She looks fine but scared.
She is hiding under a chair and won't come out.
The vet is showing Rick the X-rays. Nothing appears torn, or partially torn.
It does show her arthritis. They gave us pain medication since she is "toe" walking on it after a bit. They felt she couldn't do that if it was a tear.
We are to monitor her, not allow her to swim, only walk to do her business and let her just relax.
After a week of doing nothing if she is not better, they will sedate her and do more testing. Right now she fought them too much so sedating her would be the next thing so they can manipulate her better.

I did see the X-rays and everything does look fine but she sure isn't fine.
There is no problem not letting her swim, or walk. But today she won't even walk to go to the bathroom. It is 11 am as I write this. She has not had her morning constitution which always happens at 5:30 am. She peed and then sat down outside. I can not lift 80lbs. So there I am at 5- ish in the morning trying to pull my dog home. She was only at the corner of my block. She wouldn't budge, then she just laid down. She looked at me like, "please don't make me walk" So I knelt down next to her and told her when she was ready we can go home. It seemed like we were there for a long while but then she just stood up and started limping home. Whew. I guess she just needed to rest before she could go on.

I wish I had a backyard that she could do her business in.  My dog has not gone in the house before but I think we might be close to that at this point.
And heaven knows it will be like when she throws up - never on the wood floors - only on the carpet. Why do they do that?  Last time she did it on the good wool carpet. Not my Costco area rug, oh no, that could be easily cleaned.

This is our gal now with her bed in the kitchen area. She couldn't make the steps last night to go to bed so we brought her bed to her. She can't jump on the furniture either right now so her only option was sleeping on the floor.
And with her arthritis, it is never easy to get up off the hard floor on a good day.

She is staring at Rick in this photo below.
She is giving him sad puppy eyes. Wanna guess who slept with her downstairs? Gee if I was hurt he wouldn't sleep downstairs to be with me!
I may need to start some sad puppy eye thing and get all this spoiling and treats that she has received in the last 24 hrs!  
I just had a cancer scare and I think the only thing I got was asked if my life insurance was paid up. (just kidding, he's not that heartless)

It's a Constant Struggle Isn't It?

This made me laugh.

I feel like this every day.

Little Dicks

I follow my nieces on twitter and I sometimes see the funniest damn things.
Apparently last evening my 20-year-old niece was wearing an Adidas baseball cap. 
My mom, her grandmother, said to her, "Hey I like your nice marijuana cap."
Of course she told my mom it was the logo for Adidas but apparently, my mom thought that my niece was trying to fool her.  It looked like this.

This made me laugh when I read it this morning that my coffee came out of my mouth. It sounds exactly like something my stepmom would say thinking she was being hip and not being fooled. God love her she has been years of amusement for us all.   Now if only she could learn how to turn on the computer and use email. Or for that matter wish to learn how to do those things. That is a big difference.

I meant to tell you about this young man who pumps gas down at the lake. He is in college and for the last couple of years he has been working summers and weekends at this one marina we go to most often. He always makes a fuss over Izzy and is just a nice kid. When we were there in May he came up to the boat and said, "Izzy's back!" The fact that he remembers her name year after year with all the people and dogs that are there is amazing. This is his last summer he said and then he graduates and hopefully will have a "real" job.

I mentioned in my blog post about there being a poker run on the lake. That makes those huge cigarette boats out there on the water which we hate. Or as Rick says as they barrel by - "Ah, a little dick"  Makes me laugh every time that he says that. Apparently, those guys showing off have to overcompensate somewhere in Rick's mind. But back to my cute little gas pumper....

Rick made a comment about all the cigarette boats to the kid pumping gas. The young man said the last guy in here said to me, "The insurance on this thing is more than my insurance on my wife's Mercedes and my Porsche put together."  

He says to Rick, "Man, I'm pumping gas for the summer making $10/hr. I just can't relate and honestly, why do I care?"

Rick laughed and told him his theory. The kid belly laughed and said, "Oh thank you I needed that.  The idiot spent $650 in gas. I could pay for a semester of bills with that."  Before we were off he thanked us and shook Rick's hand and muttered, 'little dick, boy do I like that.' and he gave Izzy a pat and off we went.

And lastly, why is it that some people just seem to live a perfectly charmed life?

Take George Clooney for instance. 

Gorgeous. Extremely Wealthy. Homes around the world. Happily Married. 

Has 2 babies at once, a boy AND a girl. Does this man do anything wrong? 

Okay I found one flaw, he's short. He's under 6'. 

Whew, that made me feel better. 😃