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I’m alive and well, I swear. I’ve just taken a slight hiatus from blog posting. Partially from lack of blog fodder, and partially from laziness my desire to enjoy my almost 2 week vacation without feeling obligated to post about it. I have about 6 different posts half written as well as a partial new page design, and since my work week has just changed, I’ll have a bit more time to get them finished up and posted for your reading pleasure (Or displeasure, depending on who you are).
In the meantime, let us enjoy a cute pug, shall we?
You want to give me steak, Mom. As I think it, so shall it be.
I’m not fat, I’m just fluffy.
So, normally I’m completely anti animals wearing clothes. But this was all of a dollar at Target, and it’s been extremely cold (for us) around here. She wore it for about 10 minutes before she started tearing at it, so I’m glad I didn’t spend more. But I couldn’t resist taking a ton of pictures of her while she was wearing the sweater.
I'm not sure when I became such a weenie, but a weenie I am. We were catching up on Grey's Anatomy tonight, and during both episodes, I started crying for pretty much no reason. Now I wasn't choking back sobs or anything. I was just quietly watching while tears streamed down my cheeks. I'm not sure when this started for me. I used to not cry at anything. And then I cried at sweet baby commercials, but I thought that was just because I was dying to have a baby. Now I'm crying at television dramas? It's a little sad.
Mia is feeling much better, and thanks those of you who asked. I've tried different types of food for her, all vet recommended, and still she has the same problem. I'm seriously considering visiting another vet for a second opinion. I like my current vet office, if not the vet so much. The nurses (are they nurses? or vet assistants?) LOVE Mia and are really great with her. The vet himself is a little bit standoffish, and sometimes seems like he doesn't really care what's wrong. He sorta seems like he just wants to order a slew of tests for the sake of ordering them (and for the sake of me paying for them) and not for helping her. I've never once seen him review her chart or history, though it's entirely possible that he does that before he comes into the exam room. He's nice enough, but it's been 4 years, and a few thousand dollars later, and Mia still gets horrid ear infections constantly. So I think after this round of treatments, we might be seeing someone new. It can't hurt, right?
MY doctor, however, still has not called back with my blood test results. So yet another week has gone by where I feel crappy, and can do nothing about it. I decided I'd give her one week from my appointment to call with some information, and then I'd start being the squeaky wheel. So tomorrow I'll be calling at least once every 90 minutes to get some answers. I did, however, call my insurance company and ask for a list of covered doctors in my area, so that I can start finding someone new for me. I had to talk to no less than SIX people in order to get a list sent to me, but at least it's a start. I know from experience that it takes about a month of medicine before I start feeling better (assuming I'm correct and it's my thyroid that's the problem) so hopefully I'll be good as new by the start of 2009. Of course, the last 2 times I went on thyroid medication, I was a raging bitch for the entire month while my hormone levels balanced themselves out. So the Christmas/Hanukkah season should be especially fun for me this year. Oh goody!
Today Mia had to go to the vet to get her ears checked out. Again. She has a constant problem with ear infections, and it doesn’t seem like anything I do helps her. We go in, she gets shots, sedation, deep ear cleaning, oral meds, and topical cream (hence the wet look on her ears). I pay $400-$500 for all of this and then bring her home. She continues to get drops and oral meds for a few months, and then she’s all clear. About 6 months later it starts all over again. We’ve been doing this for 4 years now. I wish there was something else I could do to help her, but it seems like this is the best it’s going to get. So for the next 2 days she’ll go back and forth from super clingy (“I’m sick Mommy, and I need to be attached to your leg at all times in order to be well”) to super bitchy (“How dare you take me to that awful place. Remove yourself from my presence!”). For now, she’s hanging out on my bed, surrounding herself with comfort.
I’m sorry Mommy, you wanted to sleep where?
Pity me, for I am sick. And cute.
It’s been a long day, and I’m exhausted. I started to go to bed before I realized that I hadn’t posted anything for today. So I’m copping out again and putting up a picture of Mia instead of any real content. Tomorrow I’ll have something more interesting to read. I hope.
Aww cute duck. I shall kiss your fuzzy head.
As it turns out, Mia likes hockey as much as I do. In fact, she’s considering starting her own team.
The Thug Pugs.
First, she inspected the stick.
Next, she examined the puck.
Clearly, the puck wins.
Mia is skeptical of anything that moves. And anything that doesn’t. It’s hysterical to watch her sneak up on a cardboard box, only to have her jump out of her fur when you nudge it with your foot. So when we introduced her to Fred, she was extremely hesitant.
Fred, on the other hand, was the picture of serenity when he met Mia. Amazingly, he didn’t even blink an eye when she later pounced on him.
My parents watched Mia for me when I was in Hawaii, and she had a great time as always. My old dog Jezzi is 13 now, and my sister's dog, Skeeter, is almost 4. Jezzi likes when Mia comes to play because she distracts Skeeter, and Jezzi can have peace and quiet. Mia, though much smaller, likes to boss Skeeter around. It's hilarious to watch them together. Since I sprained my ankle right after I returned from Hawaii, I decided to leave Mia at my parent's house until I was walking again. The idea of being in my little apartment on crutches with my little dog underfoot didn't seem like a great idea. Plus, it gave me the opportunity to clean my carpets (and by "me" I mean the greatest man on the planet, Donald, who did them for me while I was at work. Am I lucky or what?) and rearrange my living room furniture without her oh-so-helpful assistance.
I'm feeling a little guilty about bringing Mia back home, however. Before Jason left, he was home all day and she had someone to play with. But now she's home alone by herself while I'm at work, and since I have a social life now, I'm coming home later and not getting to spend as much time with her. I'm starting to think that either I should leave her at my parent's house indefinitely, and just go visit her when I can, or I should get another dog so she'll have a friend to play with during the day. I saw her last weekend when I stopped by their house to drop off her medicine, and she's already lost weight from being active (which she really needs to do). I miss her a lot, but I also don't want to bring her home and have her be lonely, after getting used to having other dogs to play with all the time. On the other hand, I'm hesitant to bring another dog home because I don't want Mia to get jealous.
So, what do I do?
You know how some kids at Christmas are more excited and interested in the box instead of the $300 toy that was actually IN the box? Dogs can be that way too. It doesn’t matter how many stuffed animals, or bones, or toys Mia has, her favorite thing in the world is an empty water bottle. Or any plastic bottle, actually. When I get one out to drink, she immediately perks up. She knows she can’t have it until the label is pulled off, and the plastic around the top is removed, so she’ll watch me drink it until the second the last drop is gone. Then she’ll jump up on my lap and oh-so-politely wait her turn. I try not to give them to her too often, as the sound drives me completely bonkers. But she loves them and will be entertained by them for hours, so I shall suffer in semi-silence.
The past few weekends, I’ve had plans to be out of town. If Mia were a cat, I’d have no problem leaving her home alone Friday until Sunday. However, she’s not a cat, so I need to find Mia-sitters. Most of the time she stays with my parents, but occasionally friends from my office have offered to watch her. Since my office is completely animal friendly (one of my coworkers used to bring her dog in every day for 5 years, until the poor dog passed away), I bring Mia in to work with me, and she hangs out, and then goes home with whoever is taking her. When the office is full, she runs from cube to cube visiting people and hanging out. She’s pretty quiet and only barks at the UPS truck (something about the sound of the engine bothers her ears) and one of our furniture dollies. At the end of the day, when few of her playmates are left, she crashes under my desk and snores.
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