Freak Flood

For anyone who somehow missed the panicked bulletins over the last few days - let me fill you in. The largest room in our house flooded Monday.

Nick and I had taken vacation days on Monday to finish putting down the flooring in the front room. We'd moved everything from the front room into the living room, aka: the room that flooded. Not only that, but being the obsessive mother that I am every year after school I sort through everything that Shadow has brought home, organize it, then pack it away. There were stacks of his schoolwork and art all in the floor when it happened. Not to mention that that's where Nick kept all of his gaming systems, the television, DVD's, etc. So in short - that really fucking sucked.

Monday morning thunder woke us up. I knew that Emma was probably freaking out so I went and let her out of her crate and Scooter out of my room. Then I grabbed some apple juice and joined Nick on the couch. He was playing a game and we were talking about all the crap we needed to do that day. The dogs were being quiet so Nick decided to check on them. When he came back in the room he said "The floor feels wet." I stood up and much to my horror - it certainly did. We started looking around and noticed a water line rising against the wall. We promptly panicked. The floor went from "damp" to "Holy shit - the carpet is floating!" in a matter of moments. It reached ankle deep before it started receding.

We found where the water was coming in. Nick went to the door... we knew there was a storm because we could hear the thunder and rain, but we weren't prepared for what we saw. When he opened the door water poured in. He screamed "Oh shit!" and slammed the door. The water was pushing in from under it. There was a water line about halfway up the tire on my car when all was said and done.

We've been there for over a year and nothing like that has ever happened despite the amount of rainfall. The city is working on the walking trail behind our house and I think they may have jacked up the drainage ditch. That - and we have a neighbor two houses down who damns up his yard so that any rainfall pools in our and our next-door neighbors yards. 😠

We spent our vacation day NOT finishing the floor in the front room. We spent it moving stuff and taking up wet carpet. Nick moved stuff and I hacked up the carpet with a box cutter and drug it out. My fingers hurt... looks like I nearly worked my fingerprints off. 😩 The room is still damp, but we used a wet / dry vacuum to suck up most of the water and we've had heaters and fans running in it non-stop. Hopefully, we can get it dry before it molds or anything horrible like that.

We also replaced the weather-stripping under the door. We're even considering getting some sand bags until we can get something else more permanent done. Oh, and we did call the insurance company... my agent said that a homeowner's policy does NOT cover floods. If a pipe busted or something it would be different. He also said that you have to live in a flood zone to get flood insurance - which we don't.

On the bright side at least we were home. If we hadn't been everything would've been ruined for sure.

Needless to say, our house is in total chaos right now (not to mention the yard). I hate that... I usually have trouble sleeping on an average day if the house is out of order so this shit is really stressing me out. We took yesterday off to get more stuff moved and to work on getting things dried out... luckily - we got a lot accomplished. But we went in to work two hours late today.

When I woke up I had a migraine and my neck and shoulders were tight and my stomach was upset... I think the stress finally caught up to me. I called the boss and told him I couldn't drive right then, but that we'd get in as soon as we could. I took some Excedrin and laid back down... my head's not hurting and I don't feel as bad as I did when I woke up so we made it in. I actually think that two hours did us some good... Shadow had been with my mom while all of this was going on and he always seems tense when he gets home, Nick was tired and sore, too... I think we all just needed that extra little bit of rest. *sigh*

Now to get things straightened back out. m(_ _)m Also, more crap from the last few days:  Emma will normally chew anything she can get her mouth on. Over the last few days it seemed to be getting worse. I thought that maybe she was just stressed with so much changing going on. But I checked her mouth... she has a tooth that looks like it might be giving her trouble so I'm making a vet appointment today.

A light bulb exploded yesterday. It scared the hell out of me.

It's been a really fun time around here.

Boring. (Can't say I didn't warn ya).

I've not posted so much in the last two months or so... I've been really busy with all this "real-life" business and I think that may become the norm for me. I actually feel a good bit better when I don't let myself get bored enough to wander to the computer... It always goes like this: I'm waiting for my laundry to finish drying so that I can fold it, or waiting to bring the dogs back in, or waiting for SOMETHING to do, and so I think "Well, let me check my email / myspace / other things I like to read / etc. Then I get sucked in and put a bunch of things off. Then it all piles up and I get all frazzled and crazy because I hate it when things pile up and then I rush around to get it all done. Moderation is the key here and I suck so horribly at it. I'm an all-or-nothing kind of girl... I don't want to start something today and finish it tomorrow. Too bad that goes for things like reading blogs or eating all the ice cream instead of JUST the things I really need to do. Oh well. That gives me something to work on, I suppose. Anyone know of a way to hurry up and be good at moderation?? 😜😁

Before I forget let me mention something about my last blog... only one person commented it which is fine. I have a feeling that it had something to do with the video being so long and also the political nature of it. Psh... I still don't know much about politics, but I'm learning. Mostly, what I was trying to convey is that Jello Biafra opened my eyes and made me care about something I should've cared about all along. I know we're not all going to agree with each other's views on politics and everyone has their reasons for believing what they do. I hate to admit it, but I've never cared enough to have a "side" and I'm really glad that's not the case anymore. I'm not saying that I do have a side (I don't know enough about anything to have a side at this point) - I'm just saying that I am (for once in my life) paying attention. It feels nice to finally have my head out of the sand.

Anyway, here's what all I've been up to:

I recently removed most of the carpet in my bedroom. I left a square because I EXTREMELY didn't want to move my computer armoire, nor unhook, remove, and re-hook the computer and all the other stuff back up inside it just to get that piece up. Not only that, but my little Scooty likes to hang out under the chair that goes with my armoire so I left him a little to lay on under there. So now I have this really 70s-looking linoleum in my bedroom (it's orangey brown-yellow... sort of like this blog). It's not in bad shape; it has some paint on it, but I'm not worried about that for now. I'm thinking I'll probably paint my room before I put new flooring down, anyway. Also, the linoleum is a LOT easier to clean up when Scooter pees. And yes, unfortunately, he still pees in the floor. I bought him a litter box, thinking that he'd use it. But no. The sound of the dog-litter when he steps on it scares the shit out of him (of course).

More on that... never in my life have I lived with a dog in the house until I got the two I have now. My mother would not allow it although I would've loved to have a dog indoors with me growing up. So Scooter was a first for me. When we first got him he did really well with his housetraining. But then he ended up in the hospital for about a week with Ivermectin (a vet-prescribed drug) in his central nervous system. On top of that he was on morphine for several of those days to control the seizures. To make a long story short:  My little fuzzy boy has never been quite the same. When we first brought him home he had to be in a crate with a pan in the bottom to keep him from having to lay in his own waste all day (he still couldn't walk). It was rough. It's been just over a year since all that and we've never been able to get him housetrained again. He still seems smart - just weird. He WILL go outside, but I'm pretty sure he can't hold it as long as he was once able to and that's where the problem is.

Since I'm not willing to throw him out I thought a litter box might help him. But that's not going to work. When I sit him in there he just tenses up and breathes really shallowly. The sound of the litter scares the hell out of him and I don't have the heart to keep putting him in there. Same thing with the floor... if his nails click too loudly when he walks he'll panic and run backwards and fall. I mentioned it in a previous blog, but we're not really sure if he can see. The vet said that they were not positive he'd make a full recovery and I'm starting to think that he hasn't.

I guess my next course of action for Scooter will be puppy pads... he did ok with those way back when - he just liked to shred them. I'm going to get one of those things that hold them down and see if that helps. So, anyone need a dog litter box?? They're supposedly great for smaller (less neurotic) dogs... I ordered Scoot's off the internet because PetSmart didn't have his size. His is for dogs up to 35 pounds. I'd get rid of it and the rest of the litter for $15 (I paid $30 for it) and it's never even been used. If you're interested check it out here so that you know what I'm talking about.

Anyway, we saw Transformers today. It was really good. I'm not much of a movie-goer, but it actually kept my attention the whole time. Also, we went and paid for the flooring for the front room... it's this really pretty red wood flooring. It'll be available for us to pick up Tuesday. I'm excited about putting it down. There's carpet in that room, for now. Emma chewed up a purple bottle of paint on it about two months ago and the other night she ate my green ink pen on it. Not to mention that Scooter pees on it regularly. So yeah... I'll probably start pulling that up this week. Carpet just doesn't work for our lifestyle. Much like hair and fingernails I feel dirty just having it around.

And so... I guess that's all.

Now I'm shaken, but at least I can see.

For those who don't know I've never really been into politics. Never voted. Even thought Bush Cheney was one person (I wish I was kidding).

But Friday we went to see Jello Biafra speak and that man has changed me. Thank you, Jello, for opening my ignorant fucking eyes. I cried through the whole performance... my brother on my mind the entire time.

All I can say now is that the world is one scary, fucked place. More than I ever knew.

Banana Hammocks and MaMaw

So tonight was the night. The night that me, my mother, and my grandmother went to watch the Chippendale's show. All I can say is that I had a freakin' blast (in a LOL kind of way - I found all of this to be quite humorous). I think MaMaw did, too. 😁 We got there and mom saw someone she knew. She spoke to her briefly and MaMaw asks "And who are you?" to this lady she's never met. Then she turns to my mom (her daughter) and says the same thing. Poor MaMaw. Barely in the door and she's already lost. But anyhoo, we got a table and had a seat.

(I always cut my own head off when I try that... oh well.)

So I looked up on stage and noticed someone I know (Becca) sitting up there getting ready for something naughty to happen.  I went over to take some pics and saw another friend (Jen - who the first friend was with) and grabbed Becca's seat since she was on stage anyway and not using it. They had damn good seats; they were right up front.

So I was sitting there chatting with Jen and looked up and saw a dude dancing on stage. No sooner did I see him than he was all over me. Yes - I got a lap dance and didn't even pay for it (didn't even want it, honestly). It was SO gross. I'm a big fan of personal space and not so much a fan of big muscle-y guys. Plus he was all smeared in baby oil (eeew!) and got my glasses all greasy. Anyway, instead of rescuing me Jen took pictures. So I'm sure we'll see them. But haha - he got her next (though she probably enjoyed it). 😜

Btw, Becca and Jen - I have some pretty naughty pics of you two...  I didn't blog them because I thought you might want to.

But anyway, they went on to perform a few interesting-looking tricks...

Me and Jen got a picture together.

I put this up just because I thought it was cute. 😍

Then I decided to go back to the table with my mom and MaMaw.  It was at that point my Mom decided that MaMaw needed some action. (Hence the money being held over her head).

So this guy came over and took a few pictures with her. He was nice enough not to dry-hump her.

Alas, nothing's for free so she had to stick some money down his pants. 😂 It took some convincing. In this picture he was telling her that he doesn't bite - he just licks a lot. I'm sure that helped. 😂😂😂

She finally did it.

And then he kissed her cheek (I missed that shot, but this is her face right afterwards).

She said she wasn't going to wash that cheek again. 😄 But then she forgot what had happened so I showed her the pictures. This is what she looked like:

She couldn't believe it happened... said she must have been asleep. 😕 By the time we got her out to the car she'd forgotten again already. Mom gave me a little cash to hurry up and print these pics. MaMaw needs a reminder I suppose. She did say that she'd always wanted to go to one of these things, but just never did. She even said that if she'd known where we were going (which she did - until she forgot) that she wouldn't have gone. But she said she had a good time and that makes me happy. I feel like even if she doesn't quite remember it, the happy will stay with her. I hope so.

So there ya have it. MaMaw's night on the town. 😁

My Pitiful Dogs

If you live in the area you know that a thunderstorm just passed through. There's a warning siren right near the house and when it went off of course it hurt the dogs' ears. So Scooter started howling and Emma commenced... yodeling. Yes, the dog yodels. Well, maybe not exactly, but that's the best way I can describe it. I've never heard a sound like that come out of a dog before.

When it finally started the announcement instead of making that terrible noise Emma sat down beside me. Close. Her body felt tense and she was shaking in terror. I felt so bad for her. Little did I know that it would get worse once the storm actually got here. She tried every way possible to get in my lap (and yes - I did hold her for a while) and the few times she'd been adventurous enough to get more than a few feet from me that all changed when the thunder clapped. She would run back to me - tail tucked every time. She is the biggest baby. Gotta love her, though. 😍

Well, Scooty was fine during the storm. He didn't seem all that bothered by it. BUT... Nick brought up something that I hate to say I think might be true.

For those of you who don't know:  Scooter is a strange little fella... more so now than before his stay in the hospital. He was knocked out for a week with Ivermectin Toxicosis which affects a dog's neurological system. It was a vet error that caused it and there was nothing they could do besides sedate him to stop the seizures and put him on an IV then hope that he survived long enough for that ONE dose of Ivermectin to work it's way out of his system. Well, it FINALLY did (that was the longest week of my life, I think). But they said that he may have some long term effects... though they did not say what they may be. So he's developed some strange mannerisms in the time he's been home (about a year), which we didn't think much of. Things like walking backwards a lot, running into things, not wanting to go outside, biting when you try to feed him treats... *sigh*

So back to what Nick said... he thinks Scooter might be going blind. It makes perfect sense though I really hope that's not the case. It's time for a checkup, anyway, so I suppose I'll ask the vet to check him out when we go. From what I've read dogs get along fine even if they do go blind (as long as you don't move the furniture around much) so hopefully if that's what's wrong with him then he'll adjust, too. I just don't wish that on my little buddy. He's been through enough. 😕

Well, according to Emma it's time to end this blog. Between her grabbing my hand in her mouth, and petting me with her paw, and wedging her head into my lap, and trying to sit in my lap - I think I get the hint. I know it sounds obnoxious, but I love the attention. She's one of my furbabies. She needs love, too. (Especially after a night as traumatic as this one).

June 2007

Marriage and Pregnancy - You asked for it.

I've had a lot of questions over the last few years about having more kids and getting married and such... Recently, a friend of the family called me up pretty much to ask if I ever planned to marry Nick since we've been together for so long and live in the house together now. So uh, here are the answers. These are only my opinions and my feelings that apply to my life... so as always - do your thing and I'll do mine (whatever it is), and we can still love each other anyway. 😀

On more kids... is that what the world really needs? Honestly?? I don't feel that it does. Not only are there wayyy too many children without homes and families, but there are wayyy too many kids who are in terrible homes and that the system simply cannot take care of. On a more personal level I don't know that I'll ever have any more... At one point I wanted nothing more than to have another child. Now, that is not the case. But I suppose that could change again. Nothing is set in stone.

First of all, FOR NOW, I don't want the wear and tear on my body; despite the fact that I've had a child I'm pretty happy with my physical appearance and I want to enjoy that for a while. Second, I don't want the responsibility; Shadow's FINALLY old enough that I don't feel guilty and evil for letting him spend the night away from home once in a while if I want to take some time to myself. Third, babies are a lot of trouble. I've been contemplating going back to school off and on... right now I feel like I need to focus on myself and where I'm heading more so than anything else. A baby would probably jack that up. While I do understand the urge to make one together with someone you love I'm just not having that urge right now. We have time; there's no rush.

Don't get me wrong - if I ended up preggers I'd be just as happy as I was with Shadow. Not only that - I really enjoyed being pregnant. It's an awesome thing. An inopportune or unplanned pregnancy is not the end of the world to me, simply a surprise that I would embrace and welcome with open arms. That doesn't mean that I'm a kid person, though. I'm not fond of the little buggers, honestly. And you definitely will not find me old and saggy with a litter. That's not my thing. Unless I somehow have twins I wouldn't want more than one more.

On to marriage! My first thought when that is mentioned is "Why?" Do you not think that in this day and age of casual sex and constantly changing minds that it's sort of an outdated concept?? I certainly do. From what I understand nothing really changes once married these days unless you've been abstaining from sex and not living together (which seems to be rare). So all that you're really gaining by getting married is the expense of a divorce in the event you no longer want to be together, which happens A LOT. Wtf? Who wants that? Not me.

I dunno. Not only that, but once you're married it's no longer your choice to be with someone... it becomes your default. I'd personally rather know that the man I love chooses to be with me every day - not that one day he chose to be with me. I mean, truly, if I'm in a committed, loving, trust-filled relationship with someone then what more do I need? What else IS there?

Aside from that I HATE hearing how about how "you're now joined as one" and all this "forever" bullshit. What is that? I wasn't a whole person before I bought this expensive ass piece of paper? Wow. It must be magical or something. And no one knows how they'll feel later down the road. I'm sorry. I'm not afraid of commitment, but I find the idea of pledging yourself to someone "for better or worse" just bogus. If I were to marry a guy who just one day started beating my ass daily I'm promising to stay in that situation? Gnaw man. Not me. No one should have to. Which brings you to divorce. So what does that say about the whole institution of marriage? It's just flawed.

Anyhoo, I don't have anything against married people. If you're married I wouldn't chase your man - but I wouldn't do that to my unmarried friends who are in relationships, either, so don't think you're getting special treatment. 😜 All in all I'm not even saying that I would never do it, but I don't feel that it's likely to be something I'm very interested in doing. If the man I was with joined the military or moved to another country I would marry him so that I could be with him if he meant that much to me. And other junk like that. But just, you know, on an average day it's nothing I desire to do.

So I guess that's it. There you have it. I feel lucky to have found Nick (we share very similar if not the same views on these subjects) because I know not many other people share them. But oh well. To each their own. Feel free to share your feelings on the subject. Yes, this is MYspace, but I'm open. 😊