( christmas )

( cooookies )

Well, the brace is open to 90 degrees. I certainly don't have that yet, for sure. She measured 75 degrees today, but there might have been a little bit of cheat in there. So I'd call it 74 or 73 to be on the conservative side...
I was there for almost an hour and a half, which was a good thing. She also told me that of the 5 patients she had after me 4 were ACL's, and several of them were from my Doc specifically.
When I came in she measured me at a solid 70 degrees, which is a positive improvement from the week before, and then she worked at it for a little while and was able to get me up to the 75, which was quite painful. She gave me a warm wrap while she worked on my knee, and that helped. The REALLY annoying thing is that when she starts working hard, it hurts when she pushes it and then it hurts when she releases it too! So I don't get any relief while she's really pushing the flexion, which is very frustrating. She worked me through pretty hard, and then put me onto the special bike that has the adjustable pedals. She was able to put the pedal onto the 50 degree flexion setting, which felt good to be able to work a little further. I still had to squirm a bit to make it all the way around comfortably, but it was much improved over last week. I was able to do a lot more revolutions than I had the week before. I had to do the total gym again, basically a leg press. I could tell I had greater range of movement, though letting myself down all the way was still difficult due to the pain from the knee not tracking completely right yet. That comes and goes, I am hoping it goes a lot more than it comes soon. After that she had me work on a 2" block, standing with my left foot on the block, and holding on to the rail that was part of another piece of equipment, I had to stand up on the block, and then flex down and put my right foot on the floor. It was difficult not to cheat because 2" isn't very far for me to lean and be able to put my right foot flat on the floor without bending my left leg at all. She had me use my cane on the right side, and I really needed both the rail and the cane for stability. Letting myself "down" on that left side was a huge challenge, the muscles just aren't there at all, and my brain doesn't trust that my leg can hold me up. It felt a little better once I had done the first set, and I look forward to working through more of those exercises as I can build more stability.
I guess it is good progress, it is just frustrating that sometimes it feels like I am going nowhere fast. It can only be pushed so far so fast, but by the same token if I go too slowly it will get harder and harder to get that flexion back, it will be permanently gone. So goes the long slow road to recovery.

Now that Chuck and joanne are an active part of our lives again, its been a challenge to figure out how to get the pieces of the puzzle to fit together again. Our lives here at the equestrian center have become so developed, and we've moved away from being active in the BDSM world by so much that it feels like things just don't match up anymore. Its only going to be a matter of time before someone here notices that J disappears and Chuck appears over the weekend. It annoys me that I fret about how to answer those questions. I am very much interested in redeveloping the connection with Chuck, and with the overall concept of a BDSM relationship, but trying to find a way for that to exist in normality in the life that we live currently has not been easy.
I am probably over thinking the situation, but it irks me that I have to be moderately concerned about what others will think here. If this were our own place, it wouldn't matter, but we don't live on private property, we live in a park, and are the 'night watch' for the barn. Which means that people are around constantly to see us come and go. We also represent the equestrian center and I don't want to jeopardize how people view us. I would kill to be able to do photography and not worry about stepping out the back door half clad if I feel like it, but sadly, here, I can't do that.
I've also been struggling to try to find an appropriate 'name' to use for both J and Chuck (of course, it doesn't have to be the same thing...) so that I can call them that ALL the time, rather than having to censor my language depending on who is around. 'Master' just isn't appropriate everywhere unfortunately.
I suppose eventually this will become more 'natural' again, but I suspect it will take time for things to develop their own level of normal again. I just don't enjoy the uncomfortable points in time!

We have had a really nice holiday. Thursday at work was fun, we have always had some Irish whiskey in the cabinet, sort of an office joke. Well, we busted it out on Chrirstmas Eve, and H made wicked good Irish Coffees. We're planning on doing it again on New Years Eve since we've still got plenty of coffee left.
Thursday afternoon after I got home I did a marathon of exercises, and then set to cleaning the house. Somehow, miraculously we managed to pull it off, and the house is spick and span. With the exception that I did not dust most of the surfaces, and the kitchen floor didn't get mopped (with the snow and coming rain there was NO point in wasting that time...). But other than the, the clutter was GONE. I was very relieved to have things sorted out. Of course, enter the spare bedroom at your own risk, but clean everywhere else. Some of the things in there can get put away properly, like the wrapping paper, but other things are going to have to find some sort of a new home.
AC came over for dinner, which was delightful, we hadn't seen her in a while since she had been traveling. She brought a really expensive bottle of Champagne, which was really nice of her. We had a great meal of chicken cordon blue with vegetables. She left earlier than we thought, and so we decided to go drive around and look at Christmas lights after she was gone. We headed back down to our old neighborhood; Christmas and Halloween were the only good reasons to live there - EVERYBODY celebrates! (that and gas is cheaper too!) I got a text from one of the girls that boards here at the barn who happens to live down in that area. I texted her back and let her know we were in the area, and she invited us to stop by. We dropped in for a little while and chatted with her and her boyfriend, and ended up leaving with two more bottles of wine.
We made our way home, and crashed into bed.
We woke up at a reasonable hour and opened presents, which was really nice. This year was a year for towels, I got a set from J and a nice set from Mom, too. She also gave us two wine racks that she found while she was up here, which will be really nice to keep that stuff organized. J also gave me a new pair of slippers, and a beautiful set of place mats. He was delighted with his crock pot, and the new Jeff Dunham Christmas Special, and the Rayman Rabbids TV Party. There is still one box that is MIA, Mom mailed it almost two weeks ago, but it was sent parcel post, so I'm not sure if I should be worried yet or not. I just hope it gets here soon because I know there is something hand made in it, and the thought of the package getting lost is not a good one.
We headed out after opening gifts and some breakfast to take care of the horses, and bring them in since the rain was due in and would be hanging around all day and night. We got them taken care of, and came back in and got ready to head over to another set of friends for an open house. J ended up getting sucked into going out to smoke some GOOD Cuban cigars, and I was hanging with the ladies in the house, and Chuck called, letting us know they had gotten to the house already.
I texted J and let him know that we had to scoot, and we hustled back home. He went straight into the shower to get the smoke off of him, and I hung out with Chuck and joanne. She was quite impressed with the cleanliness of the house, and I told her that it hadn't taken a whole lot to get it there. We hung out and chatted for a while catching up on the day and things. They gave us their gifts, she had knitted some wash cloths and hand towels for the kitchen, and gave J the new Rayman Rabbids game. J had worked to make a picture frame for them, which didn't get wrapped since we were planning to do that before they came over once we got back from the open house. They were delighted with it anyway, though. It did turn out really nice, I think we'll make more of those in the future as gifts.
We played the TV Party game for a while, which was a blast. We were all laughing pretty hard through the games. Dinner was ready shortly there after, and we had ham, vegetables, and home made mashed potatoes. Everything was really great, and hit the spot. After joanne and I finished cleaning up the kitchen, we all crashed back in the living room again and put in the Jeff Dunham special. We all laughed hysterically, and after that was over, we ended up watching Family Guy episodes on TV. Joanne curled up on the floor by J, and I was curled up in my chair with Chuck stretched out on the couch. He rubbed my hand for a while, which was really comfortable, though things like that always leave me wanting more.
They finally headed out after 10, and we crashed and got a little bit of play in.
This morning was lazy, with the rain still pouring down. We got moving and had breakfast before heading out to help M down in the barn cleaning stalls. Since the horses were in for 24 hours, the stalls were pretty trashed. Most of them we just had to strip out completely. That made the work move a little faster, even if it was a bit harder work. Thankfully the temperature was moderate, so that made it a bit easier, not to have to work in a million layers. We stretched the sawdust out so that we didn't have to wrestle with getting any out of the bin outside, and left that for the crew tomorrow to worry about. The horses are out again tonight, so they won't have a lot of work to do stall wise, so they can scrub buckets and refill the sawdust in the stalls.
We've lazed about for most of the day after we got back in, getting the sheets changed and laundry done. I spent a good bit of the afternoon working through some of the games that we got stuck on in the TV party game, which turned out to be fun. We also discovered that if you play the multiplayer mode with two remotes most of the games you can play simultaneously. Its pretty funny to try to play some of the rhythm song games. When you miss the rhythm, that part of the song gets screwed up. We ended up playing for way too long, and finally got the leftovers together for dinner and watched UP which had arrived from netflix.
So now we're relaxing and I have to go do my exercises before I head to bed, since I missed them yesterday. I'll have to double up tomorrow since I didn't get an extra set in this morning either. Sometimes I feel like I am never going to get anywhere...
Quite a lovely holiday that still has one more day to enjoy!
Then its another short week to look forward to, and Chuck and joanne coming over to spend New Years with us. That means I need to get the spare bedroom cleaned up so that it can be functional... Add that to the to do list tomorrow...

Today I was really bad and shopped way more than I should have. Maybe I do indulge in some retail therapy sometimes...maybe it's time to try and channel my unhappiness towards something that can bring me true happiness, and not cheap thrills (that are actually expensive). However, I know that I will enjoy every single purchase very much! Will share later, if I remember.

Before you go any further: WATCH THIS VIDEO! Your Printer is a Brat!

The other day I had a weird dream. Choco was missing. I went over to his stable and he wasn't there. Somehow, whenever I thought of him he would appear before me but be very far away. He would be cantering, he'd stop and rear. When I think back to this dream sometimes he is doing that on his own, other times I think someone is riding him. But when I went back to this stable, another horse was living in it. I have finally come to the conclusion that every time I say, "I miss Choco," in my mind I am not actually referring to Choco, but "someone" / "something" else...

Some of you might have seen these on my facebook but here they are again ♥ I really do miss my Choco

It hurts knowing that no matter what I do, it just isn't enough. I can't help but be frustrated and hurt. Would it mean anything even if I still try? Why do I feel like it hurts beyond repair? Why does it feel like nothing matters? Is there no one that I could trust anymore?

Maybe I'm just stressed my finals are coming up. I hope they pass in peace, I'm really worried about my finance final...

That opening to the left of him is my stairwell — I walked right by him taking out the recycling and he wasn't bothered in the slightest. I wish I'd taken a closer photo with my good gamera instead of my phone, but my arms were full and I didn't want to startle him by dropping the bags of cans. :(


I mean, look, I know I live in Colorado and everything and we have deer in town all the time. But I am pretty sure that is AN ELK AND I WAS NO MORE THAN 8 FEET AWAY FROM HIM. I hope he was okay, he trotted off towards a pretty major thoroughfare after he decided to leave.

WHAT

As I said on facebook, I've been feeling inexplicably uneasy recently. It's a distant sense of impending doom, but I can't figure out why or about what I feel it.

http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/watch-lauren-ride-victorious-lendon-gray

Cool!

http://www.horseandcountry.tv/episode/edward-gal-masterclass

Reserving judgement on that until I watch it. :/ Liking it so far! (Still don't love how he rides Totilas, though, it looks like a Saddlebred no matter how good the scores are.)

Had another PT appointment yesterday. Told her mildly the work I did over the weekend. She rolled her eyes and shook her head. I didn't tell her the worst parts, of course, like how I had to stand at the gate and open and close it in the deep snow so that he could move the horses in and out. Yeah, we didn't mention that part...
My back is feeling a bit better, though it twinged a bit today, but calmed down after a while again thankfully. I'm glad to be bouncing back quickly, I have too much that I want to do!
My appointment went well with Kim, I REALLY like working with her. We were quite amused because she had three of us in there at one time, my appointment, the woman that comes in a half hour after me, and the next person, who was 45 minutes early. Kim really works hard to work with her patients, which is cool. She sent the woman behind me off to start her exercises, and she just goes and gets on the machines and starts working without Kim even needing to set things up. We were laughing about how self reliant all Kim's patients are.
I did tell her that I felt like I was good on Friday, but the weekend was pretty rough, mostly because of all the work I did, really. I felt like I had close to 70 on Friday evening, but it is so hard to tell with the brace, really, impossible I guess. She did some bending work, and it caught and cracked a few times, which was painful, but at least she knows what is happening. She did a few things working with the patella trying to make it easier for me, which helped some. I guess it will just take time.
Then she actually put me on a few of the machines. They have a special bike that the pedals can be adjusted so that the flexion required isn't a full bend. She let me work on that for 5 minutes. I was really slow because even as short as she had it set, it was a bit challenge to make it a full revolution on the left side. Hopefully that will be even smoother next week.
She also put me on the total gym, which I actually liked. I basically had to do a leg press, which started out feeling odd, and then felt better the longer I worked. That seems to be the way it goes, its hard at first, and then smooths out as I keep working. She let me finish up with the russian stim, which is just as annoying as the electrostim. All seems the same to me.
She recommeneded that I come down a few minutes early so that she can put some heat on it, which is just fine by me!
She was glad that everything went well with my doc, and was pleased with her recommendations to keep moving forward. She said as long as I am making good progress that we can stay at one visit per week. She's really conscious of the fact that its a $40.00 copay for me for every visit. So as long as I am getting close to 10 degrees each week, then I'm ok, and can keep doing things the way that we are.
I came home today and ended up doing 4 sets of 10 instead of 3. It felt fine, no real extra strain, which is good. I couldn't tell if I was any closer to 70 degrees or not, but it felt pretty good. I feel like I ought to be at more than 60 degrees by now without too much effort, but its so hard to tell. I think I'm just going to have to keep pushing as much as possible. Over the holiday and weekend hopefully I can put in some extra reps and really try to get it further so that I am comfortably at 70, and able to push beyond that when she really works me. We'll see anyway.

All I Want For Christmas Is The Octopus Pie Christmas Special from Meredith Gran on Vimeo.

I got about 10 cookies baked before I had to rechill the dough when it got too sticky. They look and taste great!

Please shoot me in the face if I mention anything about making cookies that require chilled dough and/or cut outs next year.

(Also, someone wished me a happy solstice today at work!)

This weekend has been exhausting. We had plans to switch with Chuck and joanne, and when the snow forecast started brooding we shifted our plans a bit. Instead of getting together on Saturday, we decided to go ahead and get together on Friday, and would just deal with whatever weather happened. He arrived earlier than I anticipated, which was good since right after we got to the restaurant for dinner, it ended up with a lot of people waiting. We got back, and I stuck my head down in the barn to check on a few things. I ended up talking with N for a few minutes checking in on her and how she was feeling. She was kicked by a horse square in the chest earlier in the week, and is very very lucky to not have any broken ribs or anything.
I was worried about her being able to get back into the barn again in the evening, once the snow started coming down. She actually asked me if we could take care of feeding for the weekend. I accepted, glad for the chance to have the extra hours. I'm sure she'll make it up to us at some point later. I was a little concerned about how we would handle all the horses with me being limited a bit in mobility, but I figured we'd find a way to make it work. I knew she had to be really hurting if she was asking us to take over the weekend, which is both morning and evening feed on Saturday, plus Sunday morning.
When we got back up to the house, I realized that it would probably be good to check in with A who was supposed to do the stalls on Saturday. She had originally asked J if he could possibly come pick her up so that she could get the work done since she has a rear wheel drive car. I caught her as she was finishing up her ride, and asked her if she just wanted us to take care of it or how she wanted to handle it. She said she could really use the money, and asked if we could trade a night of feeding for the stalls. I said sure, knowing full and well that doing the stalls would take HOURS where the feeding would take an hour, maybe two tops. I am not going to complain about the money right now in any way shape or form, even if it means having to bust ass for it.
The reality of this meant that we had to go down in the morning, feed the horses, turn them out again, clean all the stalls (thats 22 for anybody keeping count), and feed Charlie his lunch (he's old, and needs the extra weight), and then go back out and bring all the horses in again for the night, and then get up in the morning and do morning feed again. And that's the simple version that doesn't factor in the ever deepening snow building up over the course of the day.
We started out the morning later than I wanted to, but it was after a bit of play, so I can't complain much. We had to put on some blankets and then get everyone out in the 8" of snow that had already fallen overnight. The horses were impatient for their breakfast, but behaved themselves when we turned them out. I helped guide him as to where each horse went since I couldn't move quickly enough to navigate with the horses in hand, especially with the snow.
It took us about 2 hours to get everyone fed, blanketed, and out again. At which point we started on the stalls. We finally managed to finish 12 of the 22 stalls about 1:00, and had to take a break. We came in and ate, and then planned out the rest of our day.
We went back and fed Charlie, and put hay in the stalls that were already done, and got the feed set up for the night. We came in and relaxed for a few hours before heading out again for the evening. When we headed out I noticed the lights were on, and wasn't sure if I had left them on or not, and quickly realized that someone was here. JO was here, which shouldn't have surprised e a bit. She had brought in her three horses and one other one, we also discovered that they had quickly cleaned up two of the stalls that were left, which left only 8 for us to finish up. I was a bit relieved for that, but a bit annoyed that someone had seen that J wasn't here for the weekend. I didn't want anyone to realize that it was just me and someone that didn't have much experience handling horses that had taken care of everything for the weekend. I hope she doesn't make any comments to anybody, but we'll see what happens. We got the stalls finished up, and then got set up to bring the horses in. We went to each gate and cleared enough snow that the gate could be opened and closed without too much trouble, and I stayed at the gate with my carrotstick and made everybody mind and cooperate so that only one horse came to the gate at a time. They were all fairly well behaved, which helped tremendously. I only swapped two horses (two bays, both fairly tall and lanky with green blankets on... who can tell that apart!?), and otherwise it went very smoothly.
We both crashed for the evening. We ended up doing breakfast for dinner, since it was quick and warm, after we both had showers. We relaxed for a little while and then crashed into bed. I was in a fair amount of pain from pulling some muscles in my back, probably from the compensation I was dealing with picking out the stalls, and from the struggle that it took to move through the snow. I was having a terrible time moving around, since I can't lift my knee very high. I have to sort of peg leg through the snow, swinging my leg up over the top and then forward to step down. I know my therapist would be pretty pissed about this... But you do what you have to do when you have horses... And she won't know about it. Hopefully I won't be in too much pain in my back and she won't notice.
We slept like rocks, well, except for him waking up every 45 minutes... but otherwise slept good. I wanted to be up and out getting the horses out again before anyone else showed up to start working for the day. We were just finishing up when C came in to start the stalls, so that cut a little bit of time off for us as I was going to sweep, but since he was going to be doing stalls, I didn't bother. We managed to finish feeding in an hour, which was pretty good since I couldn't take horses out. I would get blankets on, and then tell him which horses to take out. Blanketing cold stiff frozen blankets is a hassle, but thankfully since it was going to be 33 there were not too many horses that needed blankets.
He dug his truck out after that, and sent me in the house since I shouldn't have been out there working on anything anyway. It didn't take him too long, and he came in and stripped down and threw the clothes in the washer and grabbed a quick shower again. We relaxed for a little bit longer before he headed out. J waited until he got down there so that he could help him get parking squared away at their apartment. The state of the house has been really annoying me since I had been too exhausted to manage anything on Saturday. I managed to get the sheets changed and remake the bed, and wash the dishes and get the dishwasher unloaded and reloaded. I was pleased with the progress I had made, and glad that I was able to get that much done. The laundry is still rolling since J got home and we threw in one more load. I wish that the snow were such that I didn't have to go to work tomorrow, but that is certainly not going to happen. Besides, then I might not make it to my PT appointment.
Quesadillas are for dinner here in a few minutes as we watch the Ravens stomping the Bears. And then it will be early to bed...

Today will probably mark the first 24 hours since the fated day that I haven't tried. I mean, I've hoped but what good is that? I feel like I've lost something, but I am not sure how much it meant to me. I'm hurt, but I will soon pick up the pieces and find the next best thing. The topic of the EMBA was brought up today, and I commented that in five years I may have better chances at doing something else so I wanted to hold back. Hopefully not married off to a stranger that does not realize my value and treats me like an accessory, and hopefully not breeding angry children that are permanently attached to my ankles and biting them for attention, lol. Not me, it won't be me. I may not know what I want, but what is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular.

Perhaps tonight will not be a night of sound sleep, I will do everything in my power to prioritize and finish what I can before dawn. I have a picture of two gorgeous creatures on my desktop, a picture that I took last Friday. I cheer myself up by saying that next time I see them, I will be free of worry. This too shall pass, like other things have.

Sorry for the image heavy entry~ but I think I'm going to keep it. If anyone should have the slowest internet connection... it's probably me, lol.

Just washed off a facial mask, my face feels clean and moisturized. Had some breakouts at around my chin, probably stress related since it's near the end of the semester. Hope it helps clear them out. I can't believe how fast my Clarisonic Mia got here. Less than a week! Pretty crazy for something shipped from the US. Before I got it, I've been reading reviews of all variations of Clarisonic on Makeupalley. One reviewer said that made her/his nose ticklish...and I thought, what a funny person! Can a person's nose really be that ticklish? Guess what! My nose turned out to be ticklish, too! It kills me to move the Clarisonic at the front of my nose, managed to be okay with it on the sides. Oh my gosh! Been using it morning and night, and while it does make my face feel "clean", I will refrain from commenting on it or attempting to review it for a few weeks.

Speaking of Makeupalley, I've been a frequent visitor for a while now. Writing reviews of stuff I've tried, making purchase diaries and uploading pictures of things. Feel free to look me up.

Went to a VISIGN event last weekend and I bought some eyeliner & powder foundation in a compact, and they gave me a make up case as a gift with my purchases. Doesn't it look amazing? It's huge! This isn't all my make up though *shame* there are some eyeshadows that I keep in little boxes and my bronzing kit is now in semi eternal slumber.





My favourite sunglasses... they were also my newest... but THEY ARE NOW LOST. I lost them at school on my graduation ceremony. I was so nervous and emotional (lol, don't ask) that I spent the few hours before the event in tears and wanted to hide behind those shades... but I dropped them somewhere and no one's seen them since. Checked with the lost & found at the reception and they showed me at least 20 pairs of unclaimed shades, but no one's brought in a pair on the day or after I lost mine. I was at the store that sold it last weekend and saw it, the exact same one, on their shelves... but it just didn't feel the same. I can't explain it, but they didn't feel like, "mine", you know?



Time to go change my polish, from India to... I dunno, something dark and dreary? Can't wait to go to the gym today. Gonna try and convince my younger sister to join a group session because it's fuuun. She keeps ranting about her body & fitness but not really doing much about it.

So I had my two month checkup today with the doc, and she's pretty pleased with my progress. I have a consistent bend of between 60 and 70 degrees of flexion, and am fully weight bearing. I'm walking without assistance in small areas (i.e. the house and my office at work). I had been using one crutch to navigate out and about, but today she gave me a cane instead, which is cool, cause if anybody gives me flack I can smack them with it a lot easier than smacking somebody with a crutch.
She was pretty positive about where I am at the moment, and said that she wants to seem me at or close (or past) 110 degrees when I return in 6 weeks. She explained that now that I am 8 weeks post op the grafts have pretty well healed solid, so there is not as much concern about disturbing the graft itself, so I can begin to do very slow strength work as I gain more flexion. I'll probably start with leg presses, and then add in the bike work as soon as I can actually make it a full revolution on the pedals.
She also encouraged me to play video games. Ok, so play the WiiFit to be exact. Its pretty damn cool when your doc recommends video games for rehab. :P So now I am allowed to work on the balance games on the WiiFit. And boy have I lost skill! When the board resets right before every game, and the green dot shows up on the screen, I am heavily on the right side. No surprise, of course, but not pleasing really. Especially since my proprioception is all jacked up. What do you mean I'm not standing balanced!? I managed to get into our scores on a couple of the games, and failed miserably on a few others. The soccer game, yeah, teh suck. The penguin slide game was pretty good, and I managed the new segue game in the Fit Plus pretty well. I actually did finish the tightrope game, but the bubble game I never got through. I'll work on some of those again the next time I play the game.
I also managed to accomplish ALL my exercises by myself tonight (previously J was having to help me with the straight leg raises). I managed 3 sets of 10 of the quad exercises (straight leg raises on my back, side, and then stomach), and 4 sets of 10 of all my flexsion exercises.
So, its moving along, just not quite as fast or as pain free as I'd like to be. Well, daily life is mostly pain free, its just the PT appointments. I love her to death, but it sucks that she has to put me in pain to make progress!
Keep on keepin on...

Act I:
Return home and announce, "NOW I shall commence to cleaning my house!"
Start with the laundry and dishes to ease yourself in.

ACT II:
Lucy: Meow
Lucy: Meow
Lucy: Meow
Lucy: Meow
Lucy: Meow
Alex: Luce! What's up?
Lucy MEow
Alex: Are you saying "Meow?"
Lucy: meOW
Alex: Why are you saying "Meow"?
Lucy: Meeeeoww

ACT III:
Wonder if perhaps Lucy is trying to say something, since this is usually a soliloquy reserved for times when I'm upstairs and she's downstairs or vice versa. Wonder if I really want to know. Wash another dish.

ACT IV:
Check on Lucy. See nothing wrong. Pet her. Observe something stinky squirt out of her rear and onto the blanket on the chair. Realize it's her freaking ANAL GLANDS. Sigh loudly.

ACT V:
Bring Lucy up to the bathroom. Ignore her screaming. Realize I have no rubber gloves. Decide to go in anyway. Squeeze unthinkable things. Smell unspeakable smells. Bring Lucy down and strip down chair she was in. Throw everything in the laundry.

Start over.


This is why my house will never be clean. One step forward; two steps back.