Saturday, December 15, 2018 – First Diary Entry. I’m not sure how much detail I should give but I do remember reading that P. said there’s been short diary entries and 20 page ones, so, this should be interesting because this Saturday was pretty packed and I had a few emotional lows sprinkled in as well.
6:05am – That was a short nap. I say nap because I didn’t go to bed until 2:30am. In someone else’s bed and with someone else’s dogs in the room. One snores, loud. Another can’t seem to get the hang of the doggy steps so he sits at the side whimpering and prancing around quite a bit before he finally gives up and lies on the floor. There, he pants profusely and more often times than not, wakes me up when I finally do fall asleep. I can’t pick this fella up because of his health issues – hence the need for doggy steps. Anyway, the only ‘normal’ one curls up under the covers or wraps around my head. I never have the heart to kick them out since it’s my job to be there for them.
6:10am – I drag myself out of bed and straighten the blankets and head downstairs with the three amigos.
6:15am – Let the pups out to potty, get dog food ready and put the food out for them.
6:25am – Let them back inside so they can eat breakfast. I give one dog one round of eye drops, he has three separate medicines after having glaucoma surgery. He hates the drops and lowers his head and causes me to miss at least once or twice.
6:30am – Dogs finish eating and I give the glaucoma dog another pill that I hid in some peanut butter. And another round of eye drops. Again, he makes me miss once.
6:35am – The last drop is placed in only one eye this time so he gets a short break. I let them all back outside again, rinse out the water bowl, refill it then grab the insulin out of the refrigerator.
6:40am – Let the dogs back inside then give glaucoma dog his insulin. He sits patiently while I let the insulin go in slowly. I find that if I inject it fast he whimpers, this way, he sits comfortably then gets a treat after.
6:45am – Pull out the remainder of the cookie dough from the fridge, the 6 dozen cookies I made and iced before I went to bed at 2:30, and all of the baking supplies I brought with me and put them back into the basket to take home.
6:55am – Finish up the dishes I left from this morning and do a once-over in the kitchen to make sure everything’s put away.
7:00am – Turn the TV on Animal Planet for the dogs because you know they enjoy watching TV while the humans are away.
7:02am – Take my basket and cookies out to my car, then come back inside to double-check the back door and make sure it’s locked. Set the alarm code then head to my house.
7:15am – Get to my house, carry my basket and cookies inside. Let one dog out of my bedroom and then greet all my doggies with, “Hi, I missed you!!!” then let them outside to potty. Say hi to the cats on the way to the back door.
7:20am – Let dogs back inside, get their food ready. Put one in his crate, put the food bowls out in their designated spots, grab the food container and tell them to sit and wait. I put food in each bowl while the dogs sit and wait, then tell them OK, you can eat. They scarf down their food, but not too fast because they have slow feeder bowls. These bowls work great for dogs that inhale their food rather than chew it.
7:30am – Dogs finish and proceed to follow me to the cat room. I then feed the cats, scoop the litter box and let them out into house for a little while. My cats don’t have full run of the house while I’m away…I know, it may sound bad but it isn’t. They have a nice room and attached outdoor catio so they can lounge outside, safely, or hang out inside.
7:35am – Rinse out water bowls, refill.
7:45am – Go out to my car and move stuff around so I can load up gear and supplies for three events I’m hosting this weekend.
7:55am – Bring empty water bottles in from the car and put recyclable ‘trash’ items in the blue bag.
8:00am – Start loading up my car. There’s a lot of large items and it all has to go a certain way for it to fit. When I bought this car several years ago I wasn’t sure if it would hold all of my gear for my events, but it has, as long as I keep perfecting my Jenga skills. Load up my dog’s wheelchair in the front seat. Years ago I made the mistake of not keeping the chair in a separate place and unfortunately a table fell on it, breaking it in half. It took quite a while to get fixed so now I’m pretty particular on where it’s placed when I’m hauling stuff.
8:15am – The car is loaded. I let the dogs back outside since the food has had time to move down the pipeline…
8:20am – I get my clothes ready for the day, hop in the shower, brush my teeth, do my hair and make-up.
9:15am – Get on the computer and check Facebook and email. Respond to two new customer requests and schedule three posts on one Facebook page. Watch a Gary Vee video on YouTube, get myself psyched up for the day.
9:45am – Carry my dog out to the car and drive to the gas station, get $10 in gas and a pepsi.
9:55am – Head to my first event.
10:05am – Park, walk inside and grab a flat-cart. Walk back out to my car and unload my gear. Then get a regular cart and put my dog in it. While I’m setting up, he stays safely in the car.
10:15am – Start unpacking and organizing my area.
10:45am – Finish setting up, just in time for the event to start at 11am.
11am – The first person arrives with the dog. They get their Santa picture taken and I talk to the dog mom, hand her a business card and ask her questions about her dog and give him a doggie treat.
11:15am – 12:45pm – More people come in the store and get their pictures taken with Santa. Again, it’s more conversations with customers and figuring out ways I can help them. The new assistant manager and I chatted and he said he moved here from Nevada. He thanked me for coming in. He’s a cool guy, hope he sticks around for a while. Same with the new manager, she’s cool and seems very receptive to working with me so I’m game. It’s a win-win partnership when businesses work together and that’s what I’m all about.
1:00pm – The event is over so I start loading everything back up, trying to remember how I had everything packed and loaded onto the flat-cart to make sure it all fits. A person watches my dog while I take the flat-cart to my car.
1:15pm – I come back inside and load up the rest and grab the cart and my dog, we head to the car. As soon as I put him in the seat he lays down – exhausted. I take the cart back inside and tell everyone Merry Christmas.
1:20pm – I’m exhausted. And starving. Having only ate a handful of cookies my body is telling me it’s time to eat. But I don’t want to go inside and don’t feel like cooking so I pull into Family Dollar to grab a can of tomato soup.
1:25pm – As I walk through the store I browse around and see people with carts full of Christmas gifts I presume and then boom, I see an end cap with little girl pajamas. There’s two pair directly on the end, one pair looks like it would fit my youngest granddaughter, the other, my oldest. And I break down crying. While walking to find soup, I think about all the missed holidays I’ve had with my granddaughters and how sad I am. I feel like I wear a mask most days. On one hand, I’m a successful business owner with a great personal life and things to be thankful for, but deep down, my heart is heavy and broke. I feel depressed because my family is so torn apart. It’s hard for me to even be around children these days. My heart longs for things that just aren’t possible right now.
1:35pm – I go to the register and pay for my two cans of tomato soup, and bawl my eyes out on the way home. I think about my oldest granddaughter, how she’s doing and when this nightmare will be over. I miss my daughter, having her friendship and my family. What’s the point of having everything I’m building if I have no one to share it with?
1:50pm – After bringing my dog inside, I change clothes, let my dogs outside to potty and put the soup in the microwave. I put some croutons on top and devour this simple but filling meal.
2:15pm – Get back on my computer and check Facebook. I post something on the Facebook page I made for my granddaughter and wept the entire time. My eyes are heavy and then I remembered I went to bed at 2:30 and woke up around 6, no wonder I’m exhausted.
2:30pm – I lay down on the couch with my dogs and take a two hour nap.
4:30pm – Turn on Prime and try and watch episode 1 of Jack Ryan. Couldn’t do it. I kept tuning out. Then tried to watch Who We Were. Boring. Thought about turning on The American’s – love that series – but wanted to watch something new so I stopped at Sneaky Pete and watched five episodes.
11:30pm – Finally feel like it’s time to go to bed so I let the dogs out again, let the kitties out in the house so they can sleep with us then I’m in bed by 11:45pm. My diet was terrible today as was my water intake…boo…and I didn’t get any exercise in either and forgot to bring in my mail. I tell myself I’ll do better tomorrow.