Two days until the big ... ONE - THREE

Yep, Joey is going to be 13 on Saturday, unbelievable.    I just spent the last little while wrapping presents for him.    Here's the packaged up  presents.    Even though you can't see what's inside,  - please note the majority of them are Japanese.    Boy, Japanese CDs and DVDs are quite a bit higher than the regular 'ol American kind.    I got him a couple of anime related tshirts, some anime and Japanese DVDS, a CD of Gack (hard rock Japanese guy) t and a CD of the original Piko!   One of the things I'm really happy about this tshirt I bought that's kind of an inside reference for the anime series Bleach.   In the series, soul reapers battle "hollows" which are souls who have lost their hearts.    They have a big hole in the middle of their chest, therefore hollows.  I found a tshirt that has a hollow hole on it.     Very few people will understand what it is and since he likes to be a little quiet or shy about his likes.   And  I really like the pillow cover of Tina - is it too adorable?   My plan is for him to have that at his Dad's house where they aren't allowed to have any animals.     I wanted to show it to Tina, but who knows what she would do.    She'd destroy the imposter.  ha ha

Guess who is NOT a good wrapping partner of a dog?   You guessed it ... PIKO!!   He can not bear not having the potential of being the center of attention.   For goodness sake ... if there's a semi clear coffee table then he clearly should be in the middle of it not some pesky presents.   I couldn't even imagine how he'd react to Christmas.    Who knows - he probably wouldn't even notice a tree and presents because he's so busy making sure the world is revolving around him.

Piko makes me laugh so much.   We have this little game where I do this crazy bark at him while he's lying on a pillow next to me on the couch arm and just flies up into the air and into my arms to "wrestle" with me.   If they were looking to re-cast Tigger, this dog could do it.   He is such a silly jumper.    I love this little dog - I hope he finds the perfect home soon.    He deserves a family that will love and cherish him as much as he knows he should be.    A couple of weekends ago a family was considering adopting him and as soon as I heard the father refer to him as "that thing" I knew they were not a good fit.    This sweet little dude being called a THING ??   I was highly offended and so was Piko.       Anyone who wants to call Piko a "thing" need not apply to adopt him.    Now if someone wants to call him a "King" then that family is probably a good fit.

Another Episode For Jingle

 Well, unfortunately, Jingle started feeling poorly again late yesterday.    By the time we woke up this morning, she felt incredibly hot and could no longer stand.    I took her over to my  Mom's house and sent out an email/facebook alert asking people to pick her up and take her to the vet for me.   I had left my debit card at my Mom's house and whoever took her was going to get the pin from me.    I had a few people offer and my brother, Craig, ended up going for me.   For one, he's very compassionate and loving about animals so I knew I could trust him and two, since he's family I didn't feel like I was imposing TOO much.

Jingle once again received a "We have no freaking clue" diagnosis with the same treatment.   Since it worked so well last time, maybe she needs another round and it'll wipe it out for good.    I just wish we knew what "IT" is.     This vet brought up possible neurological problems, but the previous vet said that was completely ruled out due to the temperature.   I pointed that out to today's vet (Did I mentioned I was on speaker phone during the appointment ?)  but I had the feeling he would much rather be giving me some answer even if it was completely wrong.   I mean, at this point I've spent over $500 with no real diagnosis.    ugh 


It was a rough day.    When you're a single woman, with most of your family moved away or dead,  life can feel very very lonely.    I know I have friends and people always say "if you need anything, just let me know" but it's hard to put it out there and ask for help isn't it?     But today I did and I really appreciate everyone who responded - even if they couldn't go for me.    One of my rescue friends, Elisa, told me about a pet sitter that does vet transportation.    I definitely need to look into that so I hope more options in the future.

I'm glad the day is over - I had a really hard time concentrating at work.   I was upset and stressed all day long at work and just wanted to get home with my little Jingie Bear and I really wished JTK wasn't away at camp.     And when I got to my Mom's house to pick Jingle up I was greeted with an accusation of using my Mom's debit card to pay for  Jingle's vet costs.    Apparently "Gail" thinks she's the only one who has a checking account with Bank of America.   ::sigh::     Again, evidence of why I like dogs and cats so much.   :)

Piko has been a bit of a grump and he growled at Jingle while ago .... uh uh uh!  No way does that happen.   And you know what?   Right after I moved Piko and wouldn't let him lie next to Jingle, TRex jumped up right next to her and blocked Piko.   Isn't that sweet?   I'm very proud of TRex for coming to her aid - remember how much he loves cuddling with her during the winter?    Good Boy, Rex, take care of your "mommy" for an evening. 

Awwwww CRAP

We averted complete disaster today because someone was definitely looking out for us.   This afternoon JTK and I went to my Mom's house to visit with her.  I needed to go to PetSmart for her and we took Piko with us to visit.    We had a couple of our own errands to run after our visit so when we finally got home I was definitely ready for some serious relaxation.    As soon as I unlocked the door, we immediately could tell something was wrong.   There was a crazy, weird smell and even though it was still daylight - the house seemed darker and grungier.     Joey pointed out it smelled like something was burning and I immediately asked him "Did you leave the incense burning?"     He didn't answer me and we started trying to figure out what happened - at first we thought the fan caught on fire because it was completely black and then I thought we had an electrical fire because everything was turned off.   But no, it wasn't either of those things - JTK definitely left a little incense burning.

Let me give you a little back story on the damn incense - I freaking hate it.   Not only does it make an annoying mess but it bothers my allergies to no end.   Of course, with Joey's fascination with Egyptian and Japanese culture - incense is a must.    A few months ago I had thrown every stick of incense away but missed a container of authentic Japanese incense.   We'd actually been battling it out about the incense the past week - as soon as I was asleep or if Joey was home by himself he'd insist on burning it.   Even today, I was lying down in my bed because I felt kind of crappy.    As I was getting up I realized that Joey had burnt some incense - he even showed me the small stick that was left.   I just assumed that he was putting it out ... but I guess not.

Anyway the incense container obviously caught on fire, on top of our entertainment center.    It melted the controllers to the Wii, a number of Wii games, a bottle of my lotion, and the Wii itself.    And the thing that's really weird is that the entire house is covered with a film of soot.   I don't get it- but every room is just a mess.   We spent hours tonight cleaning and we haven't gotten it all.   Just imagine - every top of every picture frame, every book, every piece of furniture, our bed clothes, our dishes ... EVERYthing in the damn house.  

 

Cooper after his bath tonight

That includes the dogs - they're a mess.   They've all gotten baths, but soot is hard to clean out of a dog's fur and they're still unbelievably filthy.  The worst are Piko, Jingle and Cooper - even after a good bath they're still nasty.    I'm sure they'll need  2 or 3 more baths.    And even though we've cleaned and mopped and cleaned and mopped there is still soot everywhere.   And the dogs are like soot magnets.   Our dogs, after they get out of a bath they freak out and try to rub their faces on whatever surface they can to try and dry off and get the icky water off them.    Well, tonight after they got out of their baths they ended up rubbing their faces in more soot.    I think Jingle actually looked dirtier after her bath than before.   I'll say it again - CRAP - this is going to be such a long process of getting things cleaned.   What really sucks - even though we did get a lot of cleaning done tonight, dJTK is heading to boyscout camp tomorrow.   That means ... I get to clean up solo which literally includes about a dozen loads of laundry.

Cooper - how he's supposed to look.

It's so scary what might have happened - we could have lost everything and all of the animals. That is so horrible I can't even fully think that possibility through. Cynthia has a bad cough and seems to be wheezing a bit, so we'll be making a trip to the vet tomorrow. I'm coughing quite a bit too ... AND the air conditioner isn't working very well. I imagine I'm going to need to get my ducts cleaned out.


Our Entertainment Center Now

JTK feels awful - and you know what? He should - he really should.   Not only did he do something I'd asked him repeatedly not to,  he broke the Cardinal rule of not leaving anything burning unattended.   It was no big deal to him because he was leaving a very small portion behind, but it still did a lot of damage.   I was so upset I actually called his Dad, looking for advice and reassurance. blech I hate it when I do stupid shit like that. I was completely overwhelmed, though, and didn't know where to start or what to do with the mess facing us.    He's leaving for camp tomorrow morning and he comes back on his birthday next Saturday.   This is going to be tricky, but he is definitely going to have to suffer some consequences.  I've already told him he's going to have to buy me a new entertainment center.    I'm being nice and making it a Craigslist purchase so it won't be really high and I've also thrown away the last of the incense.

I'm telling you - I don't think I'm ever going to fall asleep tonight.     It's exhausting being filled with anger and gratitude at the same time.