July 17th, 2008 - What a day!

Where do I start? Actually yesterday I guess...

Yesterday I went to my last day of swim practice for the long course season. I came home and took Nate to work because the 4-runner he just purchased last week is in the shop! Yep, we sold the big red truck because diesel prices are so brutal & Nate found a little 4-runner that was the right price & bought it. It's not been great so far, it over-heats, we don't yet know why.

So, Nate arrives at his office (an hour & a half late, what are they going to do? fire him? HA). I come home, let out our poor dog Shadow, feed her, rest a little, shower, then I go to let Shadow out again & her leg is swollen. It's HUGE! I feel so bad for her, she's been through so much. Has she been in pain for long??? I rush to get Sloan ready for her TaeKwon Do class, get the kids out the door & I call Nate to have him call the Vet so I can find out if Shadow should come in right away or wait over night. The Vet says that the earliest she will be seen is today anyways, so that was added to my to-do list.

So today. I wake up, have a swim lesson & come home so Nate can go to work (in a car he's borrowed from his AWESOME friend Charlie). I make breakfast, medicate the dog & get the kids dressed to head to the Vet. We drop off Shadow & head for the gym - I need a run. I run 3.5 miles & swim 2300 yards. Lots of good that does me. I am driving a car that has a check engine light on & is acting really funny... Did I mention I am leaving for State Swim Meet tomorrow in Cleveland, MS??? Nate has me meet him at his friend's auto shop, so now I need to grab lunch for the kids too. In checking the car we find there is something wrong with my transmission - both of our cars could end up in this shop, the 4-runner is already there! But, Nate's friend Joe isn't comfortable "dabbling" in transmissions so we take the car over to a transmission shop (Ammco owned by a couple of my swimmers' parents). They think that my car will not leave me stranded on the side of the road, give me a couple of tricks to stop it from acting funny & when I have time (HA!) I can come in to have it repaired as it means they will need to order a part.

I head back over to the Vet (it's 4pm now & none of the kids have had any rest today - no nap for Will). The Vet tells me that Shadow will have to stay at least over night. Her infection is very bad & it turns out we aren't very good at caring for our poor sick little dog. (At least that's how I feel right now - I am very tired though.) We were giving her all of ther medicine & putting the medicine on her wounds, but we didn't realize how aggressive we needed to be in cleaning her wounds. We were being very gentle (her leg is shattered you know), apparently the area needs to be scrubbed. UGH! Now she may need another pin to stabilize her leg. Wow!

At this point I've still got to go to the grocery store, make dinner for the kids, get them washed & in bed. (All of this has thankfully been done right now.) Nate has 2 remotes this evening & is not anticipating being home until at least 10pm - I know, all of this for a job he won't have in 13 days.

One of Nate's employees did get a firm job offer. That's incredible news considering how recently the buy-out was announced. Hopefully an offer will come in for Nate very soon.

Our life story sounds like a bad country music song right now; broken dog, broken vehicles... Tomorrow will be less eventful I hope. I have to go finish my ice cream (it always makes me feel better) & start to pack for the weekend.