what a day.

i got 3 hours sleep for various reasons. i had to drive mother to the louisville airport at 7:15 this morning. she was delivered safely to the wheelchair wielding skycap and made it to canada sans incident.

went to the grocery after returning home around 11 and came home to make early preparations for dinner. katherine had her first day of 7th grade and i had to pick her up at 3:50 and take her to the dentist for a cleaning.

this is where it all went awry.

as i was coming out of the bathroom i looked at my little pug doggie, mugsy, and he wasn't acting quite right. he was sneezing like crazy and didn't seem to be breathing well.

upon further inspection i realized his face was swolllen up like a walrus - i kid you not - a walrus.

sooo...i gotta pick katherine up. i tell nigel to call the vet's office and see if we can bring him in. i get in the car to head to the school when dave calls. he says he'll pick katherine up. i call and cancel the dentist appt. i come back home, and by now my mugsy can barely walk. his back end was falling over sideways when he took steps, his back legs kept kicking while he was standing up and his face is even more swollen. i thought he was gonna die and the vet said to bring him in at 4:30. it was 3:30, and i decided we couldn't wait.

the vet's office is about 5 mins from here, so nigel and i throw mugsy in the car and head out. i run in and tell them something to the effect that they have to see him now, and they took him immediately to check him out. i don't really know what i told the dear lady, but she understood.

apparently he got stung by something. the vet said he was in anaphylactic shock (or however you spell it). his heartrate was twice normal. the vet said he found hive type bumps all over his underbelly, and his breathing was not good at all. they started an iv, gave him a breathing treatment and some medicines, and kept him for a few hours.

we brought him home a while ago and he's fine now. thank the heavens. i have to take him back in the early am to get his catheter out - they left it in in case anything goes wrong again tonight, but i think he's gonna be fine.

whew. i just couldn't imagine him not making it. and worse, for katherine's beloved doggie to die on her first day of school???

so on to dinner. nigel spilled a huge glass of milk all over himself, the table, the floor. we didn't fuss. he cleaned it up. then he and katherine got the giggles about ??? i have no idea. but by this time my patience and my sense of humor are starting to fade...altho i did crack a couple smiles (dammit!!).

i asked the two of them to please clean off the table and load the dishwasher. i think more food landed on the floor than the counter as katherine was putting away leftovers, but she cleaned it up.

and dear nigel, instead of using the dish cloth to clean the table, decided to pick up the bath towel that was in the floor soaking up milk and "cleaned" the table off with it.

oy. vey.

yes, it's all kinda funny (about the kids, i mean. my dog almost dying is NOT, of course). dave and i just sit here and watch and shake our heads. i love them dearly. i really do. i'm just a little stressed and tired, and i can feel myself starting to slip. i mean, i'll end up crying and laughing at the same time before the night is over.

and i have about 40 forms to fill out for katherine's school that needs to be turned in tomorrow.

"if we weren't all crazy we'd go insane."

i'm happy. i really am. my dog is ok. the kids are great, even if a bit clumsy. dave is good. he didn't even fuss tonight about all the money spent on the dog nor the commotion here at home.

this will all pass. i know it will. and i'll probably be very sad when it does. i once was very used to this kind of craziness. it happened all the time, and it all happened at the same time. but as my sweet kids get older we seem to have less and less of it. kinda sad, eh?

anyhoo, i'd best get to printing my name, address and phone number.

xoxo