V and I got our photo taken with Santa today. He was so well-behaved (Vegas, not Santa). The doggy in line before us wouldn't sit still and squirmed out of there. Santa tried to get on the floor to take the photo with him and he still wasn't havin' any of it. Finally, they just gave up.
When I got up there with V-dog, Santa tried to give him a treat. He sniffed it, but didn't want any food from a stranger. I boosted him up on the bench and sat down beside him. He even let them put a little hat on his head (not shown in this photo). She got back behind the camera, they called out his name and he looked right at them. Snap, and that's how it's done.
"OMG, that was the easiest one we've had all day," they said. Yeah, I know. I'm sure a lot has to do with the drugs, but he's still a good boy normally.
He's almost back to his old self again. The biggest differences now are that his appetite is still slightly suppressed and he's not jumping into the back of my car by himself anymore. He needs a little extra boost, but I don't mind. Besides that, my lover is back.
Remission is grand. Next chemo treatment: 10 days
Happy Christmas (or whatever holiday) & New Year!!!
Well, that's a wrap! It sure has been fun. I saved my most favorite sweater for last. Why is it that the favoritest one also the itchiest one? I also built the highest wall of them all before I left. But not before we cracked open the bubbly (sparkling apple cider) I brought in to celebrate my time. Cheers! I didn't do it... And, on one final note...
One more final day to go tomorrow. Today's sweater was an uneventful light blue hooded sweater for a most eventful day. Since it was slightly slower today than yesterday, I was able to continue my quest to build the highest structurally unsound towering sound barrier between Mike's and my desk. I think I could quit after today. Mike, of course, was all nervous that "it's not secure and the entire thing is going to come down on my desk," but it sure didn't , well not until Jaime from the shipping department came and knocked it onto his desk.
I left 15 minutes early tonight (only to get home 15 minutes later than usual, go figure) so I could head downtown for the Neil Diamond concert at the Pepsi Center. It was quite an extravagant display considering Neil's gotta be at least 160 years old by now. It was entertaining. And, I'm sure any of the 60 year old Jewish women in the audience would not hesitate to tell you what a great time they had. Seriously though, I don't think I want to hear the song "Sweet Caroline" again for a very long time.
I do have to admit that after all these years of singing that song every single night in every single city, he managed to show plenty of enthusiasm and sound as thought it was his first time singing it. I don't think I would be able to do it.
Neil encored with "America" but then sang another odd and less popular song afterwards (spoiled my afterglow)
Horrible accoustics and over proccessed audio. I couldn't understand anything.
Didn't bring my glasses, so I also couldn't see anything.
Most amusing:
The five drunk guys in the row in front of us singing only the choruses to the five songs they knew but dancing and waving their arms to all of them.
Neil's dance moves
All the glitter and wigs
Overall, it wasn't the worst concert I'd ever been to (both were complimentary to me coincidentally). No, I had fun. I always can. I just didn't know as many songs as I thought I might and many of them were very, very slow and lullfull (if you know what I mean).
Quick Vegas update: Today's chemo treatment went well. We're now working with the oncologist and he's currently in remission. YAY! His next chemo treatment is not for another two weeks. He's slightly lethargic tonight but I believe he'll pick up this weekend. It will be tough for me to leave him for a couple weeks, but I feel better knowing he's in remission now.
Woohoo! Day 10 and two more days to go!!! It's not that I haven't enjoyed my time at PoolDawg, but it just reminded me how thankful I am that I don't do this everyday. How do people get anything else done with a full time job in the way? Today's sweater is comprised of my two least favorite colors to wear, pink and purple. Do you have any idea how badly pink and purple clash with red/black hair?!?? Orange is a close third. And yes, it's another sweater turtleneck. I had a better undershirt on today.
GLOBAL COOLING It has been freezing cold recently. The last two days were in the single digits and even in the record-breaking negative degrees. It finally made it into the double-digits today. People always think it's so freezing cold in Colorado but this is quite unusual for us. Even when it snows, the sun still comes out the next day and it's hardly ever bitterly, hurts-my-chest-to-inhale sort of cold.
On Sunday, it was colder in Denver than it was in Minneapolis. Hey! Maybe this weather is just a sad attempt to prepare me for spending the holidays in MN. However, we weren't the only ones to get feel the freeze. Apparently, it even snowed in Sante Fe, NM and parts of Nevada. WTH?!??
Poor V-dog could barely do his bid'ness outside Sunday night because his little footsies were too cold. Poor guy. It's even been too chilly to set my leftover lunch outside the door to refrigerate (because I'm too lazy to walk it back to the fridge in the kitchen).
Before there was cherry red, there was avocado green. Turtle neck sweaters are overrated and they make my neck itch! I guess it did come in handy today as the heat was out in part of the office and it was freezing all day! It was so cold, the parking lot was all crystallized. I'd never seen anything like it! Well, not in Colorado anyway! It was record lows in Denver today and yesterday. I guess it doesn't make xmas in MN look so bad. Even Frank was cold! On a warmer note, V-dog had a great weekend. He's almost back to his old self again and I was happy to cooperate. This is one of his favorite moves. He starts on his side, then rolls over upside down, then he gets his head cocked on something just right (it never looks comfortable) and the next thing you hear are the greatest dinosaur noises in the world. I rub, scratch, and pat his belly and it's like music to my ears. I even took him with me to get my hair done yesterday. Uncle Joe also brought his doggy, Shorty. We had a fun time. Vegas was feeling much better this weekend than last weekend and had much more energy.
Since I now only have one working channel on my TV (ever since my cable went out months ago and I never turned it back on since I'm hardly home to watch it anyway), I will occasional log onto Hulu to catch an episode of Family Guy or American Dad, or a moviehere and there (some better than others).
A couple weeks ago, I stumbled across the Secret Millionaire. I'm not really sure what to think of it. The first episode sucked but the second one was a little better. It just seemed so staged. I had a hard time believing it was truly a reality show.
The premise: A filthy, stinkin' rich millionaire leaves his home for a week and lives on welfare/minimum wage/etc (usually bringing a family member along). They get a taste of living life as a poverty-stricken American and at the end of the week "must" donate $100,000+ to at least one of the inspiring individuals they met. Most give more.
Today doesn't really count towards the twelve days since it was not one of the originally scheduled work days. I almost didn't even wear a sweater because of that. Instead, I just wore this casual sweater-jeans-tennies combo. In a fit of rage and (possibly) claustrophobia, Mike knocked down the barrier wall I'd built yesterday. Then, as he was chucking boxes across the room, I was abused by one right on the elbow of my bridge arm. I didn't talk to him for about an hour. Until...
When he finally went to the bank, I left a couple surprises at his desk for him. They made me feel better and I forgave him. It's so nice to get my boy back tonight!
Speaking of tonight, apparently it's the biggest full moon of the year. Now stick your head out the door and give a good howl.
Since I'll be working an extra day this week, that means I won't get to see my puppy until Friday night. I miss him dearly and self-loathingly watching through some of my favorite home movies of him and weeping like a baby did not appear to help the situation.
Fun with layers today. And more boxes... Today, I built a sound barrier wall in attempt to block out Mike's voice which carries (and not in the good way either) and only seems to get louder when I'm on the phone. He's in clear denial of this fact but I almost wonder at times if it's a conspiracy. He's still a great boss, but inside voice please, Mike. I filled my car up before work yesterday for only $15.69!!! Granted, I still had about 60 miles to go on that tank, but I don't think it would've cost more than 20 bucks! The last time gas was so cheap, it was January of 2003 and I was working full time at an office, five days a week. And look at me now, working full time at an office five days this week...
Today's sweater was another post-holiday good buy from the ON several years ago. I think there's a matching hat too, but I couldn't find it this morning. It's SUPER itchy.
One of the things I enjoy most about my "job" is that when my primary duties are a little slow, there's plenty of other things to do. Such as: today, I assembled 60 cue shipping boxes and built myself a little mini-fort. Then, I built Frank a dawg house.
Today's sweater was pretty boring. It's your typical turtle neck sweater from my turtle neck sweater days. I had to add the scarf and cherry pin for a little flavor.
Five... Golden... Sweaters... Oh, wait. This is absolutely one of my most favoritest sweaters of all time!!! The 20% mixed lamb's wool makes it not the world's most comfortable sweater, but the undershirt definitely helps with that. And, I think I got it after the holidays last year from the ON for only 10 bucks or something too. I love the working double buttons on the left shoulder (I guess, in case you have a REALLY big head) and I absolutely ADORE the elbow patches!!!
I was invited to the most lovely meal tonight at the Captain's house with his beautiful famery. It was the perfect evening, I hated to leave but I just rocked out to my xmas jams all the way home through the blizzard. Tomorrow should be a fun drive into the office.
Good news: I got my boy back tonight! Bad news: He's dying...
It's a horrible thing to write but I came to the realization tonight that he's not going to get better. The reality is the chemo doses and his treatment will give him a better "quality of life" and maybe even tack on a couple months, but he's incredibly uncomfortable right now. It's tough to tell if it's the cancer or the treatment that's making him so miserable.
I feel so bad for him. Dr. Rha said he responded really well to his chemo last week and that the lymph nodes are almost back to normal, but when will my doggy be back to normal? I don't believe he's in pain, but he's so restless. He can't lay still for more than a few minutes at a time without getting up and pacing around and trying to find a new position. His non-responsive stares brought me to tears tonight.
There was very little tail-wagging. He would sit and lay down and sit up again. All the while just sort of wobbling in place like he was about to fall over or something. I rubbed his head like he used to like and laid down on the floor beside him. I whispered my usual, "Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy? You are, Vegas. You are." which always gets a wag or two, but nothing...
My heart is breaking inside. One powerful thing that I've learned from recently finishing The Last Lecture, is that Randy Pausch was thankful for knowing he had a terminal illness and how long he had left to live so that he and his family could be more prepared for his death. Instead of being in denial about it, he made videos, made "the" lecture (obviously), took lots of photos and just spent lots of time with his family that he'd be leaving behind.
I'm not in denial about Vegas's illness. It's not as severe as it could be and I don't really know exactly how long he has left. We were told best case scenario: three years. I am just going to do the best that I can to prepare for the worst, though we're never actually prepared for death no matter how much we think we are...
In case you haven't seen or read it, here's the inspiring last lecture:
I've eaten so many clementine cuties this weekend that my nails are turning orange.
I am happy that I worked out twice this week. I'm almost back on schedule. Except that all I do at my desk is EAT!!!
My good friend Carter from Texas also sent me some more audio books for my commute. I just completed The Last Lecture which I borrowed from him months ago.
I survived Day 3 unscathed. "That's not a sweater!" Mike (my boss said). Ggggrrrrr!!! Yes it is!!! Touch it! It sure is sweater material!!! Photo with Mike since he was also wearing a sweater: This will be it for cutesy sweaters for a while as it's supposed to snow tonight and will probably be much colder the next couple weeks.
Vegas Update: In case you're wondering, Vegas underwent his second dose of chemo today. Dr. Rha said he did great with his first week of chemo and that his lymph nodes are almost back to normal size. He gets to come back home to me tomorrow. Yay! I came home tonight to find the sweetest card and treats for Vegas from my next door neighbor Kelle. Aaaawww...
Today's sweaters was a gift from my Charlotte Mom a couple years ago. She had given me three boxes of cashmere and wool sweaters from her youth. The horsey shirt was hers also and the entire ensemble was only appropriately tied together with my "riding" boots. I'm really enjoying my time at work. The phones were ringing off the hook today and before I knew it, it was 11:30 and I'd barely had a chance to finish my yogurt breakfast. I even got my own headset today!
The funniest call I received today was someone needing to order a new PoolDawg catalog because his dog chewed up his current one, "Danged dawg!" he said. Very cute...
It sounds corny, but it's really fun being so nice to people on the phone. It's almost like they don't expect it because of the time of year or something. A lot of people just like to call and chit chat about pool and league and their new pool cue and I don't mind, as long as the phones aren't going bizerk.
I helped one guy pick out a $70 cue and even though he didn't buy it yet, he said, "You made my day" before he got off the phone. Another lady thanked me for being so nice when I helped her pick out a pink cue for her grand-niece.
And Keven from the office even asked Mike, "Can we keep her?" This could be my second calling. Awwww.... If I were to ever rejoin the workforce, it would definitely be here!
My workspace even has a window. Here's the view from my desk.
Today was my first day of work at the Dawg. It was so much fun! I'd forgotten how exhausting it is to work a full-time job though. I barely have enough energy to type up this post. Anyway, above is me at my desk with my Day 1 sweater. Just in case you were curious, of course it's a sweater... (see close-up below) Vegas handled his first week of chemo as well as can be expected. It's so sad not having him here right now but it's better than him being home alone for 11 hours a day. Even though the traveling already without having to be gone when I'm in the same state. However, it's not even 8 o'clock yet but I could just crash right now. Zzzzzz...
