WELL, about those pods...

I'm still not 100%, but part of that is just because I have straight up felt like crap today.  Let me tell you what happened.

Last night Kira made some cookies.  Two batches:  a batch of sugar cookies and a batch of chocolate walnut cookies.

She used her silicon baking mat for the first batch of cookies and I heard her in the kitchen talking about "What's that smell?" but I thought nothing of it.

Later she asked me to try her sugar cookie and warned me that it tasted weird.  I tried it.  Kind of tasted floral, but not in a bad way.  I ended up eating two of them.

She decided to bake the other cookies on a regular baking sheet because a floral smell was coming from her silicon baking mat, which I had loaded into the dishwasher the day before.

We all pile dishes in the dishwasher until it's full and then when it's full one of us will put in the detergent pods and run it.

WELL, about those pods...

When we get them I like to put them in a glass jar because when you open a crinkly bag around here all of the animals come running.  And because it keeps the bag from being chewed when the cats go places that they shouldn't (as they all do).  And because it looks nice.  

Shaun was the person who ended up running the dishwasher and he used a weird, big pod that we've had for a while.  It was a sample that came with one of our Wal-Mart pickup orders.  I remember putting it in the jar of dishwasher pods because the cats tore up the packaging it came in.  It, uh... didn't cross my mind that it may not have been a dishwasher pod. 😬😳

Do y'all see where this is going?  Shaun washed the dishes with a Persil Laundry Disc.  It was the last pod-thing in the jar and it fit in the dishwasher so he was like "Okie dokie." and ran that shit. 😂😂😂 

The kids were smart enough not to finish a whole cookie.  I was not; I actually liked them.

But anyway, my stomach has been slightly off today and I've had a headache.  I can really only blame the two Laundry Disc Sugar Cookies I ate that were somehow still delicious. 😂😂😂 That should speak volumes about Kira's ability to make tasty treats. 

These are the chocolate walnut, btw, and they are delicious, also. Very buttery and soft, and not at all unexpectedly floral. 😂

I know that I've left some of y'all hanging...

I know that I've left some of y'all hanging as far as replies to comments go, but I don't have it in me today.  I'm sorry about that.

I'm stressed to death about this dog.  Rose seems to like one cat the most - Tobi.  She sniffed him this morning and then acted like she wanted to bite him.  I think she's just really excitable in the mornings because that's the only time she's going for the cats, but it still bothers us a lot.  It's not a thing that I feel safe about at all.  And the open floorplan here doesn't make for easy segregation of the pets, unfortunately.

Shaun brought my plants into the sunroom for me because it's warmer in there than the garage.  I told him that I wasn't emotionally able to deal with that yet and I'm not.  I've got another day or so (if the electrician doesn't reschedule again) before I have to really put any effort there so if I'm not updating much the next few days it's because I'm conserving my life force or recharging my batteries or something.  Or dealing with this dog.

Anyway, I gotta finish a couple of things before I head to bed and I'm already sleepy so I guess I'd better get to it.  Goodnight, friends.

My life force was depleted before I did anything meaningful.

I woke up feeling like I had energy and needed to get some things done.  Unfortunately, my life force was depleted before I did anything meaningful.

I heard a ruckus downstairs between a dog and a cat.  I knew Shaun was down there and I heard him break it up.  I found out later when I went down that Rose attacked Harley, one of our cats.  Harley is ok, (thank goodness), but I hate to think what could have happened had Shaun not been right there to intervene.  Rose doesn't usually bother the cats at all and instead is scared of them.  I'm guessing that her new medication could be to blame for her boldness because nothing else has changed - not even our sunroom since the electrician postponed the work until next week.

I'm feeling heavy in my heart.  I know she's only on day 2 of medication and that it can take time to work or that she might need something different, but that didn't feel like a good sign.  On top of that she still acts nervous about things.  When Shaun put together some chairs earlier she got in my lap.  Later when she wasn't on me and I reached to let her sniff my hand before I pet her she stopped in her tracks and ducked (which is typical for her).  So far the only change in her hasn't been a good one.  I desperately want to be patient and help this dog, but not at the expense of our other pets.  We're going to give it some time and possibly postpone her surgery if we need to.  We can't spend that kind of money on her and then have to turn around and put her to sleep.  I'm straight up not having a good time right now.

Not only that - I'm seeing so many posts from my friends and family in AL that they are sick.  Ugh, I hate that so much.  But then I also see pics and posts of people going out for unnecessary things and a lot of people not masking or vaccinating and it confuses me and gets my anxiety up.  Even if you don't give a shit about yourself you know that other people do, right?  And not only that you could be infecting other people because you can be asymptomatic for so long.  I don't know what else to say except that I care and I hope if you are sick that you end up ok.  This is some super scary shit to me.

I read articles about AL and I've read that superintendents and school nurses are having to sub for teachers in some areas because so many teachers are sick and no more subs are available.  Hospitals are severely understaffed which means that even if there are literal empty rooms there, there is no one to take care of you if you have to go to one.  Y'all understand that, right?  I don't see COVID news shared on here like when the pandemic started and I totally understand that we're all sick to death of it, but guess who doesn't care whether you're tired of it or not?  COVID.

Maybe I spent too much time doom-scrolling this morning and ruined my own day.  I don't know.  I probably did.  But I can't just turn off the fact that I care and it's all but impossible to bury my head in the sand and pretend that nothing is going on.  So today wasn't a good balance for me.  It happens, I guess.  I tried to do several things and just couldn't.  I wanted to move my plants and I looked at them and went "Nope."  I told myself that I needed to put away my laundry, but that didn't happen, either.  The only thing I did do was (unenthusiastically, which is WRONG) open some nail polish and leave it in a pile in the floor.

I guess I'm gonna go.  No one needs my Debbie-Downer bullshit.  I just needed to vent, I think.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better.  ❤

I've complained...

I've complained about how Facebook changed the way public groups work and I stand by that. They've tried to make it easier with this "auto-mod" thing you can set up, but the issue with that is that sometimes things that are harmless or even helpful to the group get denied by it. Then I have to go behind it and double check everything it does. This is a new way of doing things and I haven't yet remembered to check the auto-mod's work daily.

So this person is (understandably) upset that her comments and posts are being denied. She has chosen to speak to me by posting posts that I will deny even though I've tried messaging her and even responded in my "declined post" feedback letting her know that I've messaged her and where to find it.

If she read my message at all she would know that I'm trying to help. Instead, I believe it was ignored or that she blocked me because I can't respond to it. Also, this was the last post she tried to post in Happy Tails... Even though I never told her "Bye."

When I tell you the struggle to maintain this group is real... It's not a joke. And this was a relatively benign interaction because I wasn't verbally abused - just misunderstood with an attitude. So much fun.

Even with anxiety medication...

Even with anxiety medication she needs a lap while Shaun puts together some chairs.

Our sunroom...

Our sunroom was supposed to be wired on Thursday. Then it was pushed to today. Now it's Monday.

The electrician has had a death in his friend / family circle and that's totally understandable and we aren't upset at him, but I was geared up to do some work this weekend. I'm kind of wondering if we could move a few things in there today without making things hard for him on Monday...

I need to move my body. I took a break from skating so my booty butt could heal and it hasn't hurt in a week+. If I can't do some lifting around here it might be time to strap my wheels back on. Along with ALL the padding because it's been a couple weeks. 😂

Anyone who knows Shadow...

Anyone who knows Shadow knows that he's that third kid, 100%.

Polite as can be, but will karate your ass the whole time. 😂😂😂

❤️❤️❤️