I'm also late on my newsletter, so since I'm trying to recoup, I guess I'll work on that next.
I've been in kind of a blah mood lately and haven't had much "oomph" to do much else besides hammering out jewelry, taking clients and trying to keep things together here. It's been a difficult and stressful month mentally and financially. We had a huge and unexpected vet bill of $2K after my sweet Maggie decided that my husband's inhaler was a chew toy. In a matter of seconds, she jumped up on a table, grabbed it, bit into it, where it exploded in her mouth. It scared her silly and we thought all was ok until she started vomiting and becoming lethargic. Mike called our vet who told him to rush her to the ER, which we did. It turns out she overdosed on albuteral and had to be sedated, given meds to slow her 200 heart rate down and constantly monitored. She stayed the night and came through everything beautifully, but it scared the hell out of me/us. Since then, I've become freakishly paranoid of anything she may be able to get into and I watch her 24/7 except when I crate her when I go into the office. It was also not a bill we were prepared to pay (looking into dog insurance after this blog), and while we scraped it together with the help of 4 credit cards and a surprise substantial donation to the vet from my dear friends, Rob and Tom, we covered it all. And another public "thank you" to those sweet guys for their random act of kindness - I swear, they're just pure hearts - you don't meet many like them in a lifetime. It's not just the financial surprise they gave, but they're always helping me in whatever way they can. I felt/feel somewhat guilty about their generosity but at the very same time immense gratefulness to them. It was the kindest thing I think anyone's ever done for us and we'll pay them back somehow, although they didn't ask for it. I guess the lack of "oomph" and the oogieness came from just not having that reserve of funds to take care of it and the way the vet made us feel. They didn't purposely make us feel the way we did, but it was "the look" of pity the she gave us. Our dog needed urgent medical care and we had to sign off on the bill or they couldn't treat her. It took an hour and a half of negotiating what credit cards I could use that night, what we had left on each one and what I'd need to work out with the office manager in the morning to finally be able to go home - and without our pup. I wonder what they would have done if we couldn't have come up with the funds… refused to treat her and send her home with us with instructions? I couldn't do that as a vet.
All that said, we still have our sweet, yet naughty Maggie, thank God, and that's all that matters. So, it's back to selling things on eBay and saving up cash in the money jar for my daughter's engagement party and upcoming nuptials. I think I'll collect it in a Mason jar and throw a couch in my front yard to go with how I feel lately. Where's the banjo and velvet Elvis painting?
On another note, I finished The Hunger Games series… all three - The Hunger Games, Catching Fire and Mockingjay. I purchased them from iTunes and listened to each one while making jewelry and literally became obsessed with listening to them! Now I'm done and bummed. No more Katness or Peeta - boo, but I cannot wait for the movie! Bren is on book three and for a while there, we were competing trying to be the first one to finish. I only won because in having to cancel clients today, I was able to lay in bed all day and listen. :D I think I'm going to find another good audio book to listen to… it's really fun listening while I'm working in my studio.
Ok, time to look up doggie insurance and write my newsletter, finally. I hear it's supposed to be the coldest day of this winter tomorrow. :) Stay warm!
PS: I wanted to post about Maggie's overdose because at first, my husband and I had NO idea she had any of the medicine hit her blood stream. She dropped it immediately and bolted out the door, terrified at the sound it made when it exploded. We should have taken her directly to the ER and if we had read the below link, we would have. If you have pets, please bookmark the link and keep it close by - also, check out what's poisonous to your pet. I was surprised at what I found to be poisonous.
Valentine Gift Warnings - Xylitol surprised me!
Blessings,
Barb … and naughty "just back from the vet" Maggie...
…and, yes, that's duct tape on the couch from a hole late rattie, Penny chewed. The tape is camouflage patterned, no less. See? Trashy. LOL.
