Just Checking In

It has been a long, drawn out start to September.  My father in law ended up in the hospital a week earlier than planned due to his poor health.  Basically, he wasn't taking care of himself and they wanted to "beef him up" before the surgery which was on the 7th.  He received his colostomy as planned and he has been out of the hospital for about four days now.  The sad thing is that he is reverting back to not eating.  He says that he just can't stand the sight of food.  He seems to think that by drinking Ensure he is getting everything he needs.  All I can say is that if he keeps this up he will be back in the hospital in no time and we can't have that!

As you can well imagine, that damn dog is still an unwelcome house guest.  We have him in a kennel during the day while we are not at home.  The kennel also serves as his personal bedroom at night.  I just don't trust that dog any further than I can throw him and I can tell you that 60 pounds doesn't go very far.  He has managed to pee in the house on more than one occasion and the kennel is the only way that I can be sure he won't do anything if we can't be home to watch him. 

I've also begun to carry a water bottle with me whenever I'm at home.  The instant the damn dog begins to do something that he isn't supposed to do he gets a shot of water.  Most of the time he will stop, but tonight he barked back at me.  I just nailed him again with more shots of water and the barking quickly stopped.  This household requires discipline!  (And lately it has also required tons of Fabreeze as this dog STINKS!  I've never smelled such a foul dog odor as I have with this dog.)

While I'm more than ready for the damn dog to go back to my father in law, he isn't even capable of taking care of himself.  So, we are stuck since Hubby's brother refuses to help.  We are now on day 24 and I think I may just have to check myself into the funny farm to get away from it all.

On a bright note, I had a lovely little package from Mouse.  She sent some bath petals and chocolate.  Thanks so much Mouse!  As soon as that damn dog is gone I'm going to take a real long, hot bath.  I will be able to soak my cares away and take in all the lovely scents instead of the rotten dog smell.

Believe it or not, I've managed to get a bit of stitching in.  I have pictures somewhere on the camera, but honestly, I just don't feel like messing with it.  I feel like this whole last year (since October 2010) has been nothing but heartache and bad moods.  I'm so ready for it to end.  I'm ready for some happiness!

I'm going to be very busy with work for the next week (thanks to the extended tax deadlines for our area because of Hurricane Irene), so between that and taking care of the father in law issue I'll probably still be gone more than I am here.  I'll try to keep up with your blogs and I'll be keeping an eye out for the status of our Traveling Pattern.

Thank you all for hanging in there! 

Keep some happiness in your stitches!