Driving the Dog Mobile

The firework season started officially here in my neighborhood on July 2.  Just some light stuff.  Bottle Rockets.  A few Roman Candles.  Luci enjoyed looking at the pretty colors of the Roman Candles and the other stuff didn't seem to bother her too much.  Rocky was taking his cues from Luci and if she wasn't bothered, then he wasn't bothered . . . much.  He couldn't figure out where the noise was coming from but it didn't seem to bother Mommy or Sissy, so it must have been okay.  At one point during the night, they were running laps in the backyard totally oblivious to the noise around them.  I let out a big sigh of relief.  I even told Hubby that it might be the first time in 15 years that we wouldn't have to worry about dogs being upset by the noise of fireworks. 

 

See, Goldie and Blacky (our previous dogs) were both afraid of the noise of fireworks.  Goldie had a mild case of fireworks anxiety and most of the time she was fine if she was in the house and we had the TV on for her.  Blacky had more of a generalized anxiety disorder and he disliked thunderstorms as well as fireworks.  The poor boy got so upset by the storms and fireworks that we had to give him some meds to help calm him down.  Goldie would only bark and carry on if she was outside and could hear the fireworks.  Blacky would bark if he was outside but he would pace and pant if he was in the house. It was very stressful for them and for me and Hubby.  We hated leaving them home alone during the 4th of July.  

 

Neither Luci or Rocky have any thunderstorm anxiety.  Luci had a small amount of firework anxiety but I always felt that it was because Blacky was so anxious about them and she was just reacting to his fears instead of being fearful herself.  This is Rocky's first 4th of July so I had no idea how he was going to react.  Hubby and I kept our fingers crossed that we might finally have a non-stress 4th of July.  

 

The dogs and I went for a walk tonight and there were some mild fireworks going off.  Neither dog seemed very upset, so we continued most of the walk.  I did avoid the area where the majority of the fireworks noise was coming from.  No need to tempt my luck.  We came home and everything seemed fine . . . . until one of the neighbors set off the big guns.  Oh.  My.  Garwsh.  Both of the dogs were running circles in the yard and barking at everything.  It was all I could do to get them in the house and calmed down.  I know it's too late now but, man, I wish I had talked to the vet about meds just in case. 

 

It's going to be a long weekend. 

The house is almost back together.  The living room and dining room have been painted and the furniture is back where it belongs.  Hubby and I have decided that we want to go with the "less is better" scheme of decorating and not all of the knick knacks are going back out.  The problem is deciding which ones stay out and which ones get packed away.

 

He still has to paint the hallway and the stairwell.

 

It looks lovely.  There's a lot more room with the furniture layout.  I really like the new color.

 

It was worth the chaos.

 

Just don't tell him . . . I'll never hear the end of it.

Hubby and I decided it was time for new carpet in the living room and dining room.  Hubby promised that I would only need to take two days of vacation for the installation.  One day to pack up the knick knacks and help him move furniture out of the way.  The installation would only take place the second day and then we could get the furniture back in place.  Everything would be back in place by the time I went back to work.

 

A little background info . . . I have an aversion to clutter.  I'm not full blown OCD about it but I like things to be in place.  I hate it when I've spent the day cleaning the house and then Hubby will come along and clutter it up again.  Makes me crazy.  Needless to say, two days with the house all out of sorts is enough to make me very anxious.  

 

So the time came to pack up stuff and get ready for the carpet installation.  Hubby and I got stuff packed up and moved fairly quickly.  That's when Hubby decided that "since the house is torn up anyway, we might as well paint."  So now we're adding the complete chaos of painting the living room, dining room, stairs and hallway.  Oh, and he wants to rearrange the furniture.  At this point, I'm darn near ready for a nervous breakdown.  "Two day, tops" has now become "four days max".  Meds.  I need some meds.  And chocolate.  Lots and lots of chocolate.  Off we go to the big box hardware store to buy paint.  (Yes, Susan, we went to "your" store.) 

 

Carpet installation day arrives.  Hottest day of the year.  And we have to turn off the AC.  Because the carpet is hard to manuever if it gets cold and stiff.  It's 90 degrees with 100% humidity.  The dogs are hot.  I'm hot.  Hubby and the carpet installer guy are hot.  But the carpet is behaving beautifully.  Guess I shouldn't complain.  I thought about having a pool party for the dogs, but I didn't want to have my brand new carpet smelling like wet dogs.  The dogs and I hung out on the back deck.  Under the awning.  Where the breeze was.  We were all very happy when we could turn the air back on. 

 

The new carpet is beautiful.  The colors that Hubby picked out go nicely with the carpet.  No, I didn't pick out the colors.  I have no design ability.  He does.  That's why he picked the colors.  That's why he does the painting.  

 

So far only the dining room is completed.  He painted it in one day.  It was mostly put back together when I got home from work.  I just need to dust everything and put the knick knacks back where they belong and the china back in the china closet.  Half of the kitchen is a disaster.  He promises that it'll be done by the end of the weekend. 

 

You'd think after 25 years with this man that I'd know better . . .

 

Hubby was helping me find frames for my new glasses last weekend . . .

 

Hubby:  Here, try these.  I think they would look good on you.   

Me:  (I tried them on and was checking them out in the mirror).  Nope, they make me look like somebody’s grandma. 

Hubby just stared at me.

Me: What?!

Hubby:  You are somebody’s grandma.  

Me:  oh, yea, right.  

 

(No, I didn't get the grandma glasses.)

It's not a cold, it's allergies.  Just what I need.  I would have rather had the cold.

 

Got a prednisone shot yesterday morning.  The injection site still hurts 36 hours later. 

 

There's supposed to be a big announcement on Jon & Kate this week.  Does anybody really care at this point?

 

Hubby and I have decided that the "must see" movie of the summer is "G-Force" about the guinea pigs.  The commercials are too cute.

 

I'll never understand why people don't turn off their cell phones when they are in church.  At least one goes off every week during Mass.

 

Hubby got tired of listening to me whine about the electric mower and got an old fashioned gas powered one.  YEAH!

 

The best part of delivering papers on Friday night is listening to music from the 70's on the classic music station.

 

Hubby and I watched VH1 Classics One Hit Wonders today.  Made us feel really old.