It is Done.

I made *the* appointment to put my dear friend, Sadie down. I feel like a weasel. How do you "schedule" death? Damn. My head KNOWS it's right. But my heart just aches. Sadie hasn't been Sadie for a while. She hates being touched because of all the moles/warts on her. She can't see well, she doesn't hear almost at all, she's doing her business in the house and seems to not even know she's doing it.

Even at age 17 she's the BEST dog there EVER was - there EVER will be. We were married only a year before we got her. She was so cute - just 3 months old - she NEVER messed on the floor and only chewed a couple of shoes.

And then there's Mabel. OH Mabel! She is MORE than a handful! She sits in the window and howls because she can't go out. She's almost the opposite of Sade. And that's probably a good thing. I'll need that menace to get through the next weekend.

Bill and Taloola have offered to go but *I* need to be there - I want to be the last person she sees. She's always been there for me - now it's my turn. We told Jack about what was coming and he pleaded that we wait till after April 1 so she "could have one last birthday with us". :-) Gotta love Jack.

A Day ALREADY!

In our house you kind of have to hit the ground running, at least you have to hit the ground dealing with Sally. :-) This morning she flipped on my overhead light (I HATE that) and told me that she was sorry for hitting my car. What????? Well, when it all came out - she had hit my car with the plastic bin of garbage. Ok, so your heart recovers. Then she reported to me that Mabel was gone. Sally had seen her (Mabel) knock the front door open and then escape. Well, what's new. I figured someone would call.

I'm in the kitchen getting coffee and Scooter Pie(I added the pie part) is in his yard just going nutso barking. I figure Rexie is out there and he's trying to figure out how to scale the fence to get at her. But no, Rexie is on the table waiting to be fed. As I walk out to the back deck I see a HUGE possum waddling out from under the shed. I called the kids and we all went out and watched him take his sweet time trudging up the hill and out the side gate. But then he stopped. Guess who comes barreling over him? MABEL! Oh, Lord, love a duck. Just when Scooter Pie had settled down, Mabel comes charging in and makes the Possum retreat to the corner of the yard again. I do believe he either scratched or bit her enough to make her "get it" because I heard a little howl and she (Mabel) took off out of the yard again. We all headed back into the kitchen.

As we're making breakfast there's a knock at the door. I figure it's the delivery guys (my washer/dryer is due today) or someone with Mabel. It's the lady on the other block who tells us that yes, she had Mabel in her back yard and she's on her way to work. So the kids and I jump in the car and go to get Mabel. When we finally find the house there is no gate that I can see for her to come out of. Sooooo I got her to put her paws up the fence, grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and hauled her butt over the fence. Only then do I see the mud that she's COVERED in and now *I'm* covered in it. Oy. But I get her back to the car (where she spreads the mud) and try to contain her to the front seat. We get home, put her out on her chain and return to making breakfast. There's a knock on the door again. The delivery guys are here with the Washer/Dryer.

I went out to the driveway and was signing all the stuff when the guy says to me "We're not too early, are we." And as I was saying "oh no, we're up, don't worry." It dawns on me he had not really *asked* that as more *said* that. As I look down at my jacket - I'm COVERED in mud. So he's thinking - boy - you all need that washer NOW! :-) I had to laugh. He was a really nice guy and the kids got to watch him and the other guy use that thing on TV where you place the strap under the real heavy thing and you can lift it. It's pretty cool, actually.

Jack has been begging to play Clue, since last night and so I had told him that if he was all ready to go I would play before school. So as Sally got her backpack together, Jack and I played Clue. After I dropped them off at school I was thinking. Most people are just *starting* their day. Mine is really just winding down!!!!! So all is well. Mabel is in her house, Sadie is in my closet (her own little "house"), Rex is sleeping on the fireplace, the washer/dryer is in the garage awaiting Bill to hook it up, the kids are safe at school, and I've go the coffee made and files pulled to do payroll today. It's a wonderful life. :-) But a little like the Army "we do more before 9:00 than most people do all day". :-)

Things are Crazy

The house is up for grabs again. You know when everything in your life just seems so out of control and you feel overwhelmed? I call this "when the inmates start to run the asylum". The weekend was a doozy. We had the usual swim lessons and then the usual laundry and clean up (because Mom is working 5 days a week now and the piglets aren't picking up after themselves). Saturday night (after a day of kids running in and out and Mabel and her usual howling craziness when anyone leaves) my washing machine broke. I have a font loader and honestly have never really liked it and I think it took offense to that. After putting in a load (and a rather light load at that) the clothes (namely a towel) somehow got wrapped around the gasket that seals the door and wrapped so tightly over and over that it blew the door open. Not sure what it says about us - but we didn't even notice the noise. ;-)


So the washer sits - mostly full of water (as full as those front loaders get) with the gasket hanging out and a wire sticking out. Bill got up early on Sunday morning and went "shopping" for a stackable set. We have a "sub-basement" meaning that half the wall is underground and that half wall is concrete. So the dryer vent (and all other things) come into the house ABOVE this wall - thus making the vent have to do a hike UP the wall and out - we've always had problems with the vent. So with the stackable it now goes straight out.


One problem - they can't get the thing till Wednesday. ugghh. And of course, it has to be on the week that I have the motherload of all laundry. You know, sheets, blankets, the whole 9 yards. Just puts me SOOOO in a fowl mood. I have to say my kids get their patience or lack of it from me sometimes.


Bill got to really "download" with a couple from his childhood who he helped with a snow blower. I've always thought he needed a "Taloola" :-) It was nice to hear him explain how good it felt to have someone "really" listen about Sally.


Sally - Oh my. I can't believe I really CRIED thinking that child would never speak. One must really be careful what one prays for. If I would have taped her mouth shut this weekend I do believe the top of her head would have blown off. :-) As I was running her bathwater Saturday night I asked Bill "is it wrong to want to drown her?" :-) I know it's because of other stresses that my patience with her is down. Not her fault she has a lot to tell me when I'm consumed about getting crap done. :-)


The thing with Sal is that she's always thinking ahead. It's like being with a nagging blackberry. Always chirping about what's coming up when and what you have to do in the future and it's all I can do to make it through the time being. :-) We did broach the subject of putting Sadie dog down this weekend. Sal seemed fine about it when she was told that Sade would be going to heaven. Sally has a thing about heaven and Jesus and God. It's like she's been there before - like she's got a relationship with them that goes beyond spiritual. Heaven is not abstract to her and neither are the heavenly beings. She's very matter of fact like about it. And it's not anything she's been taught. I'm serious when I say it's like she's been there before and has a working memory of it.


It's all I can do to think about it without crying. I know it's for the best. Sade doesn't really like to be touched except the head and ears anymore, she's loosing control of her bodily functions and she's both blind and deaf. Mabel plays so rough with her and God bless Sade - she gives it back - but you can tell it's getting harder and harder for her to rebound. Plus, I don't think she's eating as much as she used to. She'll be 17 in April. She has been the BEST dog to EVER walk the planet. She's seen Bill and I both through some crazy ass times. We got her the year after we got married and I remember wondering what we ever did before she was around. ;-)

Jack Jack

Well, Jack has been at it again. I have discovered a stash of photo-copied "Crusader Cash". At school they give slips of paper (a little bigger than a dollar) for doing good things. Caught being good is a big thing at school and if you save these "dollars" you can buy things at the office. Some things are pretty cool - like lunch with the principal or a basketball game with the Assist Principal. Some classes have even saved up - putting theirs together to get extra recess time. Anyway - seems Jack has been trying to "re-create" these "dollars". I foresee prison in his future. He'll be counterfeiting 20s. Lord, help me.

Another thing I found out he had a police officer at school. The way I found out was that he told the cashier at the grocery store. So all those times I asked what happened at school and got "nothing" - well, seems *I* didn't count much. He was ALL talky to the cashier! So anyway, I asked if he had told the officer that his cousin Bob was in training to be a cop. "No, I was going to - but I couldn't remember his last name - oh, yeah - it's Dave Davidek, right?"

No, that would be the Bob's brother - Dave (Jack has always thought my brother had two sons named Dave) and his last name would be Beckett. :-) Oh, this boy......

And now the tearful part: Jack reported that they have been learning at school about what to do if a gunman comes in. It breaks my hear that he has to learn this - that the innocence of being safe somewhere is taken away. But I have to admit - Jack seemed to take it in stride. I commend Mrs Sievert for that. I think she handled it very well. Jack seemed to know all about the instructions of what to do - but had no drama or freakiness about it. And get this - he even went so far as to ask about what to do if he was in the bathroom (the boy spends a good part of his life messing around in the bathroom). After he was told that ONLY *IF* there was this problem that he was to lock the stall door and stand on the toilet. He then asked wouldn't the gunman know that if the door was locked that someone was in there even if he couldn't see their shoes. I was impressed that he had *that* much forethought. And then I started crying because my baby is having to think about being hunted. Just what are we doing to our kids????

I caught Sally (ok, so the whole neighborhood could *hear*) singing today and asked her where she heard that song. "From my mouth" was the answer with that look of "duhhh". I really think *I'm* the handicapped one sometimes. :-) Sally is also having a hard time with Mabel and asked if I "would speak to her about biting". :-)

And on THAT note. Sal had social club yesterday. She came home with a bite mark on her hand! The counselors had told Bill when he picked her up that Sal had got bit and really had not provoked it. So, when she got home I asked her about it. Yes, Brandon had done it and yes, he was her friend - but he had done it because he isn't a very nice boy. But he is still her friend. :-)
I guess she didn't even cry. I think she knows that sometimes things like that happen.

And back to Jack: I had one of the spec ed teachers ask me to stop in to school to talk about Jack. Talk about LOADED statement! So I ran through EVERY horrible thing the boy could have done. When I arrived she started telling me about a little boy in his class who has spec needs and is "self stimulating" (if you get my drift) lately. I guess he grabbed Jack's crotch. They put a stop to it immediately and after talking to Jack - he didn't feel it was his crotch but his leg the boy grabbed. Anyway - the teachers and aides made sure the boy knew that he was to keep in his own space and they wanted me to talk to Jack about how no one should be touching him anywhere. So we did. I was kind of proud that Jack didn't make a big deal of it and embarrass the other boy. Again, Jack knows how Sal has "space" issues too and probably was giving the child a break. But it was a good chance to bring up again the fact that it's ok to tell someone not to touch you. So afterwards the teacher saw the look in my face and said "I probably scared you, didn't I?" Yeah, I had the boy in military school already. :-) She seems to think Jack is very smart. I love him dearly - but I don't see smart. :-) Sneaky, conniving, that I see. :-) So it's been a week, let me tell ya.

I can hardly wait to see what's in store for next week. :-)