A post a Day (APAD) APAD Day 10 Squirreling

~ msgracefulnot ~ 1 Comment

Oh, Look a squirrel!

As I Was looking for a picture of a school bus to use in a blog post, I got distracted when I saw an ad from a company that was selling them. This is an excerpt from the ad

Our entire inventory is available to you at your fingertips if you choose the Used Inventory tab at the top of the screen. Then, you can click on any of the links to your liking from the drop-down menu to start browsing. We even carry buses that are under $10,000 if you happen to be on a budget. As you’re looking around trying to find the one that will suit your needs, you will be able to see some photos as well as a brief description of the features that are included and how many miles it has on the odometer. Not just that, once you click on an image, you’re going to be taken to a page that shows a breakdown of all of its specs along with green score information and crash-test ratings.

THAT’S ME!!!! I’m on a budget!!!!

hmmm maybe I could sell my house for way more than it’s worth, buy a bus and live in that?!?? ( I mentioned I do feel like I live in my car) Since the temperatures are less than freezing in Illinois, now would be a perfect time for me to head back down to Florida for the Winter. I wouldn’t even have to rent a moving truck.

On second thought, maybe I don’t sell my house. I let my roommate have the whole house for the winter ( along with the bills) and I come back when Florida is too Hot during the summer. Maybe I’m on to something?!?!? These random thoughts continued for the next hour or so and eventually I ran out of the time I had allotted myself to write for the day.

One post a day… APAD Day 9 Gone but never forgotten

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Remembering Snuff and D.O.G.

We purchased D.O.G in 2008. I was very depressed. My step daughter that I had been raising for the last 5 years decided to move across the country to live with her biological mother. I was in and out of the hospital having MS exacerbations every couple of months. I was in A. Bad. Place. Adding D.O.G. to our family was just what I needed. She was my constant companion or copilot. The MS exacerbations continued to occur every two or three months finally landing me in a wheelchair almost full time and having to use a Foley catheter. Again, I. was. DEPRESSED. I was put in a rehabilitation center for 3 months to learn how to walk again. (That is another story though) D.O.G. also became very depressed. She would not eat unless she could visit me or hear my voice on the phone. Did I mention co-dependent? My ex-husband and I decided to get a dog for D.O.G.

Buying a dog for your dog

Yes I bought a dog for my dog. I have always loved German Shepherds. They are hands down my favorite breed. A friend of the family’s German Shepherd had puppies and she said I could take my pick for $300.00. If you have ever purchased a purebred dog, you know that $300.00 is a hell of a deal. (more on that later) Thing One, Thing Two and I went to meet the puppies. Out of 12 of them we were all able to agree that Snuff was the one. The fact that we were all able to agree, MADE her the one. That and she kind of picked us.

Getting two dogs was one of the few Good Decisions that I have made in my life. Over the next few years I learned the importance of training your dogs to be “Good Citizens” or in Layman’s terms “not to be assholes”. Again that’s another story though.

Losing a pet is devastating

Snuff died in June of 2019

Time of Death 10:30 pm 06/15/2019

and I lost D.O.G. in January of 2021

I didn’t write a post about losing D.O.G. I COULDN’T write. I couldn’t sleep. I just couldn’t…well anything.

Both of these girls will always be in my heart!

A Post a Day APAD Day 8- thrown under the bus

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Thrown Under the Bus

Before you try to throw me under the bus, make sure you know who’s driving it. I have been thrown under the bus so many times, I have permanent tire tracks on my head, I’m sure of it.

Last year was a pretty rough year for me in many ways. At one point when I needed help I reached out to someone I normally would not have. I HATE asking for help, absolutely hate it. But there it is I did. As a result, when the person that helped me reached out to me asking for help, I felt obligated to help when normally I would not have gotten involved.

I got involved.

So I got involved. I took care of shit that H, should have handled on her own. A couple weeks later I get a call from T, her boyfriend, asking why I got involved. I responded, because “H asked me to”. She did?!?!? YES. I’m not surprised that H didn’t tell T. I am surprised and a little hurt that she tried to pin it all on me though. I guess oh well, my “debt” is paid. I didn’t do anything wrong, illegal, or unethical, I just got involved in something I normally wouldn’t and while I “fixed” the problem, trying to throw me under the bus created 100 new problems for them.

I know this post may seem a little cheesy, but I wanted to ” get it out of my head”, but I don’t need to throw someone under the bus to do it. I don’t need to air someone else dirty laundry, but I do need a reminder to continue to mind my own business. This is that reminder.

A post a Day APAD Day Six… Not knowing is the worst

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Surgery Day

I’m sitting in the preop room with Thing Two. It’s been a long time since I felt like I had all the answers when my children come to me with questions or for advice. To be honest, they are both smarter and stronger than I am. I’m okay with that. Even glad for it!

I THOUGHT I was going to be a nervous wreck waiting for her to go into surgery, but at the moment, I’m feeling very calm. While we were driving to the hospital this morning, I had the answer (from experience) for every question that she asked me. I even remembered to warn her that 15 different people were going to ask her her name, date of birth, what she was having done today, and who was doing it. I use the word WARN because I can remember coming in for a previous surgery and feeling uncomfortable that everyone kept asking me. I went down the Rabbit hole of if you don’t know my name by now, are you gonna do the right surgery when I’m unconscious? I was scared and had so many questions. I felt like I calmed and prepared her.

The first nurse that came in the room was incredible. My ego is a little inflated because I had already told Thing Two almost everything that she was covering. (We even had the eye to eye conversation of “I’ve got this!”) Once Leslie, the nurse was done going over the first round of information though it dawned on me that I didn’t know what to expect from this side of the bed. When you are having surgery, from the time that they put you to sleep to the time you wake up feels like 10 minutes. I honestly had no Idea that it could span several hours. I also didn’t know where I was supposed to go, if I could/ or should leave, how the doctor would find me etc.

Another nurse gave me a patient number and explained that I could monitor her status throughout the entire procedure via a television screen in the waiting room. She told me that the first 30 minutes in the OR would be a review, making sure everyone was on the same page and knew what was expected of them during this particular surgery. The surgery could take between 2 to 4 hours and recovery was usually 1-3 hours.

Everything went well

It’s after 8 pm here, and my day started at 7. I’m exhausted mentally and physically. I have my last day of Physical Therapy tomorrow, followed immediately by an appointment to be fitted for an AFO for my right foot. After that I am headed to stay with Thing Two for a couple hours to make sure she eats, pain meds etc. Maybe I curl up in her bed with her like she did mine when she was a little one?