Craziness

The past month has been completely unrelenting. I absolutely love my job, but the past few weeks have been really intense. It has just been so incredibly busy, and added to that- I've been crazy busy after work too. Family stuff, extracurricular stuff, random volunteer stuff/added projects... The end result is that I've been burning the candle at both ends in a big way. Case in point: I had an event last night and didn't get home til about 9, then had to be at another event for 8:15 this morning (30min away and I am soooo not a morning person). Went straight from the event to a meeting, which ran late...and I'm on a deadline for a project tomorrow. So I stayed at work til a little after 6, at which point I realized I was no longer being productive. I was supposed to meet friends out, but instead came home and put on my PJs. I'm BEAT.

Or at least that's what I'm chalking this evening up to. I just bawled my eyes out watching, of all things, The Vampire Diaries. And a repeat to boot. I'll admit: it's totally one of my favorite shows (along with Gossip Girl and Nancy Grace...clearly a lot of highbrow programming in this house!). But bawl-worthy? Not so much.

Poor Brewster does not know what to make of this all. As much as he's a brat a lot of the time, he really is a little sweetie...he was very distressed to see me upset, and tried to lick away my tears.

I'm hoping things start calming down a little, but I really don't see an end in sight. It's all good stuff that I want to be doing, but I need to find a way to balance everything a little better.

Plus I need to spend more time with this guy:



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Wordless Wednesday

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Shame, shame

There's a tumblr called "dogshaming" that is making my life right now- I laugh out loud every time I read it!

I think I have a worthy submission...my only problem was figuring out what to "shame" Brewster for!!




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

I'm back...

Down, but not out.

Today I briefly thought Brewster had been dognapped.

I was doing yard work on the side of the house. Since the whole yard is fenced, I just let him roam while I weeded. At one point I thought I heard the gate open and close, but never heard a car pull in, so didn't think much of it.

When I came around the side, the back door had been closed, and Brewster was nowhere to be found. Being my father's daughter, I started to panic.

My first floor tenants let me in, and pointed out that third floor tenant had come home. Turns out he brought B in as well. Apparently he never thought that since the door was open and the dog was outside, maybe I was outside too?

Also today, someone apparently gave the neighbor kids some kazoo/whistle things. So the kids have been blaring on them. All.night. I'm about to lose my mind. Whoever gave rowdy kids kazoos should be locked in a room with the kids and the kazoos. See how funny it is then.

And finally, the other big news in my life: after being busted for almost a year, I finally had the pilot light fixed on my oven. So my oven works again! (Yeah, I cook a lot. Ha.) I planned to celebrate by baking a cake tonight....but realized I'm missing key ingredients. Like eggs. (What can I say...clearly domestic isn't my thing.)

One day maybe I'll get my act together...




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Sick day

Who gets bronchitis in the middle of summer? This girl. The good news is that my doctor is wonderful...and not afraid to prescribe meds. I'm on a z-pack, inhaler, cough syrup AND nasal spray.

And of course this guy is keeping a close eye on me:




My grandmother still isn't doing fabulous, but I think that's just the way things are going to be from now on. Pancreatic cancer is a nasty, nasty disease. But we are so blessed to have a really great family...everyone is pulling together, so that really does help. Over the weekend, my cousin and his family flew in from Canada to visit. Even though it was a sad reason they were here, it was really great to see them. And his kids are just the cutest little things ever.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Rainy day fun

It has been raining cats and dogs here all day. I had planned to do yard work, but obviously that didn't happen. So, instead I slept in AND napped. I won't admit how much!

I was also supposed to visit a friend just outside of Boston, but that fell through too. Just one of those days I guess.

So instead now I'm hanging in with this guy:



I'm the first to admit- I'm not much of a cook. At all. But lately I've been trying to branch out a little- I'm trying to eat healthier, and the best way to control what goes into what I'm eating is to just make it myself.

This isn't exactly healthy (although I guess olive oil has some health benefits, right?) but tonight I decided to make aglio olio- olive oil with roasted garlic. I had never roasted garlic before, and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was! Definitely something I'll be doing again. And, a nice side benefit is that my house smells amazing. I picked up a nice crusty baguette from a local bakery, plus a chilled glass of my favorite wine (from a vineyard in RI- Sakonnet Vineyards Vidal Blanc)...I am in absolute heaven.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

The hits keep coming...

I've had a string of very bad luck over the past 6 months or so, but out of everything, the latest is the worst- my amazing, smart, plucky, fearless grandmother has Stage IV pancreatic cancer. I'm heartbroken. According to her, the worst part is that she can't eat ice cream anymore (she's having a really hard time keeping food down). Ice cream is her absolute favorite food- every year for Lent that's what she gives up. She was completely fine until just a few weeks ago. It's so awful.

I've been so, so blessed in that both of my grandparents have had exceptionally good health up until the past 5 years or so. They were both really active- just a few years ago we road-tripped around Minnesota together.

Then my grandfather started slowing down. It turns out that he's had a series of "mini-strokes"- so small he didn't even realize he was having them, but the cumulative effect was that dementia set in. My grandmother has picked up the slack and taken care of him. It's not like he doesn't know us or anything like that, but he can't do the day-to-day stuff anymore: drive, cook, etc. It's a cruel twist that my grandmother, who's been healthy as a horse until this, is now going downhill fast. My poor grandfather is going to be lost without her.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone