Top Ten Shitty Things I Did Last Week

I’m not sure if I accomplished anything worthwhile besides trying to convince Hubby he should start packing for our trip. We leave in a week. He’s still trying to decide what to wear. And to complicate matters, we are only packing a carry on. For a two-week vacation. Aside from that, I think I managed to clean the main floor of the house and do a half-assed job at making one dinner, but I think I’ll run down my week, if for no other reason, to make you feel better about yourself. Because even if you got out of bed without hurting yourself or disturbing the dog, you had a banner week! Go you!

10. I drank a lot on Friday night in front of company who have never seen me drunk before and now I think I’ve scared them off. Or at least, had them rethinking their options to be in my company for future drinking. I may send them a greeting card apologizing for my ill-timed nodding off and pretending I wasn’t drunk. Is there a card for that? I need a card for that.

9. I took credit for fixing the dog. She had a red swollen mass develop inside her eye. After much debating and Google-ing and asking our breeder’s opinion, we concluded she had cherry eye. Mags is 10 years old, and those things don’t happen in older dogs. Breeder Lady told me how to massage the eye in hopes the mass would pop back into place. (it’s referred to as their third eye and can pop out when poked or injured. Or for no good reason at all, like it feels like making an appearance so go ahead and deal with it, bitch) After massaging the area for a few times on Saturday, we awoke Sunday to find Mags back to normal. For Mags, ‘normal’ is up for debate. I’m taking credit for her return to her original state. And for not panic-dialing the vet and sobbing on the phone that my dog was deformed by an unknown entity.

8. I went shopping with Hubby multiple times only for him to debate the return of all the new clothes to which I eye-rolled. I also witnessed the trying on of every article of clothing he owned to decide if they were worthy of vacation space and drawer space. He ended up culling drawers and forming multiple piles of clothes of which are to be further determined where they should go. A truly enjoyable experience akin to stabbing oneself in the eyes with cocktail forks. Okay, that’s a little over-the-top even for me, but I’ve had better experiences in line at a grocery store. A really long line. Like back to the back of the store line, where someone is still trying to pay with nickels and forgot to pick up the salad dressing, so the cashier makes a pithy call to the stock kid to go find it, to discover that it has sold out, so now there is only the crappy kind left. That line.  

7. I tried to feign my way out of saying I didn’t know something when really, I did know and when asked repeatedly if I knew, I tried to keep up the good fight and say, ‘of course I don’t know!’ until I caved and spilled my guts and confessed, and then it got awkward. Until it didn’t. And the thing I knew was a good thing, but I wasn’t supposed to know the thing, but now I think everyone knows the thing, so now everyone is happy to know. You know?

6. Son requested I send pictures of him when he was young and in hockey. Hubby found some and I got into seeing his face when he was little and then I lamented how fast everyone has grown up and how old I am, which then led to remembering I am a grandmother and then I wanted to day drink. But I resisted and had coffee in my Best Grandmother Ever mug and I felt better.

5. I went to the dentist to have a cleaning, only I couldn’t because I had a hip replacement seven months ago and needed to take antibiotics before having any dental procedure. This information would have been advantageous to know before hijacking daughter to drive me there and back and then to work. Son had the car this week and I’m SOL for independently arriving to appointments and trivial things like work, so payback is awesome when Mommy needs to go to the liquor store at 9am to buy wine!  Drive Daughter, drive!

4. I work in an environment where being quiet is paramount. I had students testing last week and decided I needed lunch. I was returning from heating my soup when I opened the door so expertly stealth, I even surprised myself.  I was congratulating myself on my silent manoeuvres when I dropped a glass jar, sending it crashing against the door causing a loud bang to which I laughed out loud and slammed the door. The soup survived. The students were alerted to my awkward entrance. There. Perfect.

3. Apparently, there was a big hockey game on Saturday night, and it was a nail biter and exciting, except I slept through the entire thing and even when Hubby tried to wake me up to tell me how great it was, I nodded and went back to sleep. I wonder if this is how it will be when a big event suddenly happens like the world is set to explode or a big sale happens at Marshall’s. I’ll say, “yeah, yeah, I’m sleeping here,” and miss the whole thing. Maybe I need an alarm clock that can tell me when I’m missing a big event and slap me into consciousness. Don’t let me sleep through the big Marshall’s sale, please.

2. I’ve been trying to decide what to wear on the plane. Everyone is saying to dress comfortably, but for me that’s sweatpants, a hoodie, and my hair in a ponytail. I don’t think that will cut it going to Europe. Pajama pants? If they’re pretty? Ah, if only I could wear that and my slippers it would take the word ‘comfortable’ to a whole new level. I could take a squish-mallow and my eye mask. A blankie? Ugh. I guess I’ll wear pants.

1. Before Mags came down with an eye from the Zombies of the Apocalypse, I referred to her as an asshole a couple of times. Then when her eyeball looked like it grew a twin, I felt guilty, and that the Universe was punishing me for calling my companion an asshole. She is the one thing in the house with a heartbeat who lives to see me walk through the door and who doesn’t criticize my cooking. And who tolerates my ridiculous need to put a book in front of my face instead of rubbing her belly, like a proper human should. But, in my defense, she was barking at the other dogs in the ‘hood for no good reason. And then promptly shit all over the floor. Asshole. Face it, she was embarrassing the family and I was forced to call her out on it. Now that she has recovered, I feel less like an asshole myself and more like the loving companion she deserves.

Until tomorrow when she barks at the neighbours and shits on the floor. Asshole.

A recovered Mags. Her eye twin has retreated, until I call her an asshole again. Ugh.

Live, Drink and Be Merry…or Mary, if That’s Your Name

Last night, as I was finally able to sit in front of the fire with the dog on my lap and a glass of wine in my hand, Hubby made a remark that unsettled me. He commented on my glass of wine. Maybe I shouldn’t be drinking wine EVERY night, and since we’d be having wine on Friday, as our usual routine, I could skip a night. I think I froze in mid-drink and stared. The unthinkable statement made me blink in disbelief. SKIP A NIGHT?!
I don’t drink EVERY night…more like every OTHER night. I don’t drink to get drunk. IT’S A GLASS OF WINE FOR PETE’S SAKE.

wine and cookies

So, it got me thinking as to the conversations lately about enjoyment of one’s time while on this earth and taking care of your health so one can live a healthy and long life. If something happened to me, would I regret having a glass of wine last evening? HELL NO! I would have regretted NOT having that wine…that’s how I look at everything now.

If I skip something, will I regret it if anything happened? For example, if I chose to skip my work out on my scheduled day, would I regret it? Yes, probably, since I’m working ever so hard at keeping it up. If I skipped going to something I enjoy, would I regret it the next day? Yes. Absolutely…so no skipping stuff I enjoy simply because somebody else thinks it’s a bad idea, or somebody else isn’t really into it. I still do plenty for others. I hold down a full time job, take care of the house and make sure my adult and semi-adult children are eating and contributing to society. More or less. I try to make time for friends and family and enjoy others’ company. I try to dwell on the positive instead of the negative and keep things light. Don’t get me wrong, I have my days where nothing goes right and I seem to fall down at every turn, but that just reminds me I’m human and we all have our off days…it also makes a great post and gets people laughing.

We spend a lot of time working and being busy raising our kids and worrying about the future. I’d like to turn that around. Life is way too short to worry ourselves about something we cannot prevent, or something we cannot control. Take precautions, yes. Protect what you can, absolutely. Forfeit fun and enjoyment for the sake of being ‘safe’….no thanks. I’d rather have cocktail forks jammed in my eyeballs; or be forced to endure a lecture about the complexities of pencils than have a life void of enjoyment and fun.
So…did I have my glass of wine? You betcha. AND, I’ll have more tonight…and maybe tomorrow night. If I so choose.
Life is to live and enjoy. There is enough pain and suffering already in the world without adding to it. Yes, it is our duty as members of the human race to try to make things right by being positive lights in others’ lives, by inspiring our children to go out and do good in the world; make it better. Rise above our mistakes.
It is also our duty to enjoy our life, our friends and our family to the best of our abilities.
So, cheers friends! Enjoy….

The Pink Lady...yeah.

The Pink Lady…yeah.