Toughest Day

I think I can safely say this has been one of the toughest days I have ever experienced.  Today was the day we had to have our beloved Abby put to sleep.  She was the best dog I have ever known and I miss her so much already.  She herded the kids when they were young and spent 13 years looking after all of us.  When it became painful for her to get up the stairs where she has slept next to my bed ever since we brought her home from the pound, I knew we didn't have much time left.  I even spent a few nights, when she was really bad, sleeping on the couch downstairs beside her.  But lately she could hardly stand up, and stumbled over the doorjam to painfully relieve herself outside.  So before my departure for Seattle we saw her to her next life.  She would have been lonely and in pain had I waited any longer and maybe even left this world without my being able to say goodbye.  So farewell, Abby.  I miss you and love you.  And I do believe that all dogs go to Heaven.

Why do I always run out of paint?

The bathroom is nearly finished and I'm out of paint.  How can such a little bitty room take so much paint?  I think I only need another pint.  Of course if I only buy a pint it will need a pint and a half.  The regular rules of math must not apply to paint.  It never covers the calculated area of the wall...minus the windows and doors...times 2.5 coats... Wait!  I always forget to calculate the quantity of liquid the average paint roller retains no matter how hard you roll.

Mixed bag of ****, fun decorating fun grandkids,and the Abby dilemma

The bedroom is painted except for a bit of touch up on the trim.  I don't want to do it till I'm into the trim paint for finishing the bathroom.  The bathroom has the 2 coats on the ceiling, all the cutting in on the walls, and 1/2 the first coat on the rest of the walls.  Soooo...it's on to the rest of the first coat, and then the second/touch up coat, and the trim, and oh wait... The grandkids are here for a one day visit so that Megan can pickup Brian Robbins and his wife at the airport.  I am really looking forward to seeing them.  But today is devoted to a little clean up and battening down the hatches.  I should still be able to finish the painting before the Seattle trip.

The thing that weighs heavy right now is Abby.  I alternate between obsessive worry and distracting myself from the clock ticking on her life.  She is partially blind, mostly deaf, and is having a lot of trouble getting up and down because of her arthritis.  The latter is the biggest issue in a two story house.  It is impossible to untrain a 13 year-old dog who has always slept next to your bed.  So she depends on Morgan to carry her up at night.  And now she is waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning to go outside.  She can manage to get down pretty well most of the time, but if I try to go back to bed she barks.  She doesn't want to stay downstairs by herself.  A few nights I slept on the couch.  Last night Morgan came back down so I could go back to bed.  It gets worse every day and I will be leaving in a couple of weeks.  So I am thinking of putting her to sleep before I leave.  Sam says she pines when I'm gone and with everything going downhill so rapidly I am afraid she will need to be put down while I am away.  So end it all a little prematurely for convenience sake?  Now you get the guilt, right?  I have already had one bad dream over this.  I see more in my future.