I know nobody wants to read posts where I just whine about hard life is. And this was a HARD week. So I’ll try to keep things brief. Mostly because I realized it’s the last day of August and I have like five end/start of month blog posts to write this weekend and maybe it would be a more productive use of my time and energy to focus on the happier posts.
Anyway. Last week of summer. Time to cram in as much as possible or say you’ve done enough and chill out. We kind of had both. On Monday we did need to get a few groceries, but I chose to run those errands at stores we don’t normally go to like Trader Joe’s. Stores I love, but aren’t exactly convenient. Our main objective was to end up at Popeye’s to see what all the hype is about with their new chicken sandwiches. We got there at 10:45. There were probably at least around 100 people waiting between the indoor line and the drive thru. Everyone was buying bags full of sandwiches – like 20 per person. It was crazy. I felt like such an idiot for being there too! But we drove all that way and I wanted to see it through. The verdict? I definitely liked it, but I think because I just like Popeye’s chicken. It’s so flaky and crispy. The spicy sauce? I couldn’t taste it at all. It was just a very thick chunk of chicken (I’m anti thick chicken) and pickles. But I ate it all. The boys liked their tenders. I was just so mad at myself for not remembering to buy myself a biscuit in the midst of the chaos. Popeyes has THE BEST biscuits. But there was no way I could wait in that line again.
On Monday night Caden had his first Lego League meeting. He did it last year and really enjoyed it, but was really against doing it again. I think because he’s just rebelling against all things school. But it sounds like the whole thing is much more organized and focused this year and he came back really excited about.
Once again I forgot to take a picture of said playdate, but on Tuesday morning we biked to a park and had a really nice donut picnic and playdate with some friends. The weather was gorgeous and it was a really fun time! One of Shepard’s friends came back home with us for the rest of the day and I vaguely worked on some sewing room organization. I planned to do all this fall doll making over the week and I didn’t even start. So much else going on.
I had planned to do something fun on Wednesday, but the boys were treating each other so horribly, and nobody could get rewarded for that behavior. We had a tense and stressful day followed by a very busy night. We walked to the farmers market and library and then went to Shepard’s school for orientation. After his we went to Caden’s. They unloaded their supplies and talked to the teachers. I was so exhausted by then so we ended up at Culver’s for dinner.
Greg was working in Chicago on Wednesday and had a late night, so after Culver’s we picked up Annie and went to the dog park because it was still so nice out. I guess I’ll probably regret that decision forever because five minutes in she got briefly attacked by a dog at the gate who basically shredded her ear. We didn’t even realize right away until another owner pointed it out to us. At that point there was blood everywhere. She said she had some sort of medical powder at home to stop the bleeding, so we followed her back to to her house, but it didn’t work. We went back home and sat in the driveway for an hour trying to figure out what to do. A neighbor also had that powder so she helped us try to cake it on, but nothing was working. We called a vet in Sun Prairie that was still opened and they suggested cornstarch and wrapping up her head so she couldn’t shake it anymore. That was basically a disaster. At this point it was dark, we were all covered in blood, Annie was so stressed out, and Greg was so mad at me for not confronting the owner of the other dog. It was all so chaotic and even though that dog obviously did the damage, I was also the one who didn’t stop Annie from running at him when he ran into the park. I mean, all the dogs run to see every new dog that shows up. I’ve never really thought twice about it unless it’s a dog I know is extra rough. But I guess I learned my lesson and that if it’s a dog I don’t recognize I should always, always call her back to me.
We put her in her kennel overnight to contain the bleeding and it appeared to have stopped overnight. Until we let her out and she started shaking her head again and the blood started gushing again. I was able to get her into the vet right away, though, and left her there all day Thursday while they worked her in between surgeries. Want to know the absolute worst kind of torture you can put me through? Make me wait all day long for a phone call. Ugh. I cannot relax or commit to doing anything with my time because I’m so paranoid about not getting the call. It was such a stressful day.
Meanwhile, Caden broke Shepard’s glasses on Wednesday, and of course the eye doctor isn’t open on Wednesdays, so we had to wait until Thursday to get them fixed. They were beyond repair this time so they informed me we had a warranty and they fixed him up with brand new frames. Whew!
Oh, and I forgot to mention that Caden was sick on Thursday morning. He threw up twice, which is really rare for him. But I think it was maybe just something he ate? He was STARVING by noon and so angry with me for not letting him have anything besides toast and crackers and a banana. A lot of people have been angry at me this week. It’s been real fun.
I finally was able to pick Annie up late afternoon. The vet wrapped her head really tight with super sticky gauze and Annie was FREAKING OUT about it. I think it was really pulling her hair and she was just so confused. I was told she would be really groggy the rest of the night, but she was actually in such a state of panic she was practically hyperventilating and nonstop crying the entire night. It was so stressful.
On Thursday night we were all supposed to go to Ponderosa with Greg’s parents before they took a little vacation, but only Shepard and I went since Caden had such a rough morning. We wandered around Walmart afterward because I didn’t want to face going home yet.
They told me I could take the gauze off on Friday because the bleeding would have surely stopped by then. But as soon as I started unraveling it Annie started violently pulling her head back to help it go faster and ended up ripping a ton of her hair out, and irritating her ear enough that the blood was just pouring out again. Which makes her shake her head nonstop because it’s wet. There was blood everywhere, again, and I just totally lost it. Most of the week felt like one crisis after another with no break in between. My emotions are messed up enough on the last week of summer, with feelings of guilt over basically everything. Plus Greg implied, maybe not on purpose, but that’s still how I interpreted it, that I wasn’t doing enough with the boys, or giving Annie enough exercise. THAT did not go over well when I’m sacrificing so much of myself and my work time and my sanity to try and give them the best summer every single year and then to find out that my own husband thinks it’s not enough. There is only so much of me to go around and I was at my wit’s end. Annie spurting blood everywhere around the house was the straw that broke me.
But I got it together. I went to Walgreen’s and bought more gauze. Then I may have gone through the McDonald’s drive thru and sat in the parking lot slowly eating a sausage biscuit to give myself five extra minutes to breathe before going home and facing everything again. I wrapped her back up with the new gauze – nonsticky – and she seemed much happier.
We went to my mom’s for a few hours after that to just hang out with the dogs in the yard. More beautiful weather to enjoy.
Today I needed out of here. DESPERATELY. I was planning to have a fun day out and about on one of the first days of school, but realized most of my week is committed to other things already and there’s no way I could wait until the following week. Before I could leave today, though, my fitbit broke. Because OF COURSE it would break this week. My fitbits always break, usually around the one year mark and then I get a replacement just under the warranty. This has been my favorite fitbit (the Versa), but it broke after only nine months! I contacted their support and already have a replacement on the way, but still – just one more thing to deal with.
So I finally got out of the house a little later than planned and enjoyed a day of browsing through all of my favorite stores. I bought a couple of new fall candles, had lunch at Chipotle, tried out the new pumpkin spice cold brew (I liked it near the end when the foamy part finally started mixing in with the coffee), and slowly meandered through a couple of bookstores. It was a nice day that I really needed.
And that was the week. I’m so glad it’s over. Now to just survive two more days of all of us being home and no specific plans before school starts Tuesday. I feel a little more mentally ready for it after escaping today.
Cheers to the end of summer!
