grateful

this weekend left me feeling very grateful. there have been no gold-showering rainbows, no happy pills for family tension, work or health issues, but that does not stop me from being blessed. for example:

my mom was supposed to come stay with us over the weekend. we were going to have some fun, sure, but also high on the list was helping her process, so to speak, her future. be a sounding board, troubleshoot ideas, etc. because she has not done that yet, not really.

but it's been weeks since this debacle started! you might say. and to you i say: very astute. but time moves very, very slowly when you are sick. which means, no, my mom did not come over this weekend. she called friday, rescheduling to saturday; called saturday rescheduling to sunday, and sunday to cancel completely. sunday brought 'needles pricking all [her] joints', along with a 102 degree fever. i wish i could say this was horribly out of line, but unfortunately, it's only a mild deviation.

which is why, almost immediately after talking with her, something pushed me onto the back deck. it was almost 80 degrees, sunny with a wonderful little breeze. i realized that, as an able-bodied person living in an absolutely gorgeous area, i had a moral imperative to take advantage of it.

and so i did. as a nice surprise, min came too. we traipsed around a wonderfully lush park, with semi-steep paths right down to the willamette river. once we got to the rocks and blue, pearl started chasing a larger dog into a good-sized pond and ran right into it...for about 2 seconds, and then backed up. she turned around to look at me. water?!?

she did this about 4 or 5 more times, which = big big fun for her AND for us, giggling away. after that, i walked over to the river and got my feet nice and freezing, drinking in the air and peaceful surroundings: quiet chatter, dogs barking, boats scooting by, water lapping at me, wind in my hair, sun keeping everything in check.

i would give a lot to make my mom better. meantime...man. we had a good day. :)

in lieu of more interesting content

i admonish you to stop and smell whatever's blooming nearby, just like my girl.

$160 = cheap peace of mind

at least it is when your dog starts vomiting blood.

yes we went to the emergency vet tonight. yes pearl is fine, or should be totally fine by later today. for reasons that are very much unknown to me, she decided to throw up a chicken strip (jerky, the kind especially for dogs) about 1am. she's had them plenty of times, but this time it came back and apparently some got stuck somewhere along the way.

poor thing just kept trying to get rid of it, would calm down for 20 minutes, then start up again. after an hour or so of this, she started bringing up blood -- that was my limit, so off we went to the vet.

once again i love adobe animal hospital. they are fast, they are kind, and they are cheap. they only thing i don't like is the distance but really it's only an extra 10 minutes from its competitors and the quality/price canNOT be beat. she got a crapload of medicine there, some to take home, plus the er visit itself...$160? thank you!!

and no they didn't have to do anything fancy. yes i asked if she should get xrayed. that's our baby! but the doc didn't feel anything and as she wisely pointed out, if pearl wasn't better by later today, we could bring her back for more tests. pearl did throw up once more on the way home but she's already crashed asleep, so i think we're done. thank goodness because i'm tired. the *only* benefit of our escapade is now i have a guilt-free excuse to work from home, since i'm just now heading to bed. :-o