1:00 p.m. - 2008-10-01
Bite Me.
Erik is away all this week on the west coast for a business trip, which leaves our dogs completely out of sorts. Harry usually just sulks silently, but Charlie depends on a constant routine, so he is totally freaked out. (Newer readers- We adopted Charlie just over a year ago from a shelter. He is blind and needs a lot of attention, but incredibly sweet and getting more confident every day.) He was howling from 5-11 pm yesterday at every car in the parking lot because he was hoping it was Erik's. I had to give him a busy-bone to distract him, because I was afraid that neighbors would complain. He can really project, our dog! And last night, Harry got off the bed where he usually sleeps by my feet, choosing instead to sleep on the floor for ten hours. Weird.
I think Harry's having a miserable time, actually, and not just because he doesn't understand where his daddy went and if he's coming back. Last night, he was sitting on my spot on the couch, which he likes to steal every time I get up. And I did my usual routine of teasing, "I'm gonna sit on you! Watch out, I'm gonna sit on you!" And I was reaching behind me to push him over, like I always do. It usually gets him to finally move to the foot of the sofa. But last night he bit my hand! He never, ever bites! (Well, about three years ago, he had a little issue with food, obsessing over it and getting a little snappy near his bowl if you were getting close, but we trained him to get over that and to relax more.) I was so shocked, my mouth hung open for like, ten seconds before I could start saying, "NO BITING! Bad boy, no biting!" And then put him in a baby-gated time-out away from all the action (which is the worst punishment for little dogs, who like to be the middle of everything.) The bite didn't physically hurt at all, it was barely a snap. But it hurt my feelings really bad, because Harry's, like, my best friend. He's my little buddy through thick and thin. I was so disappointed that he would to try to hurt me.
This morning though, I saw that he had scabs underneath his lower lip that had started to bleed because he was scratching them so much. (Note: Harry has really bad allergies, so much so that he is on several pills a day, and we have to give him allergy shots twice a week.) I am trying to remind myself that he is probably more aggressive because of all the steroids he is on. Or maybe I touched him in a really sore place and he just reacted instinctively. He is an animal of course, and not my baby, which I often forget.
Metho-day yesterday wasn't bad at all. Just some nausea in the morning, but ginger ale took care of that just fine. The one sucky thing about losing so much hair is that you have to remember that when combing it. I now have to hold out my hair, clenching the top of it with my fist, away from my scalp. I would normally just let it hang as it is, and comb it straight down. But when I do that, and the comb comes in contact with my thinly protected scalp, it fucking hurts. And blow-drying it can really burn.
Some great news, though. Erik just got a well-deserved big-big-big promotion! I am so proud of him. His bosses really adore him, and it's great to see that they are finally noticing his efforts. He normally has that quiet, flying-under-the-radar kind of personality that can be overlooked by many. But I think this year, when one of his bosses was away for months on maternity leave, and he took over more of a leadership role, they saw how much he really has in him, when given the chance.
We won't notice the pay increase for months, though! We have to set aside a bunch for taxes for the rest of this year because Erik forgot to switch back the withholding in '08. (Although, in his defense, there's only about two days a month that an employee can make those changes.) We got married halfway through '07, and Erik then realized that we were going to get a huge rebate, but it would be more helpful for us to get that in smaller portions every month for the rest of that year. Which it was. But now in '08, it wasn't changed back, so too little was taken out. And then Erik realized we were gonna owe an additional $10K next April. Yikes! So we're living lean until at least January. And we're paying off all stupid debt we incurred at the start of our relationship, when we were living in Massachusetts, with no budget or cares. Now we do pretty well, writing down every dollar spent so we can see where it all goes.
It will be great when the debt is completely wiped out. We want to travel so soooo badly, which we really can't do right now, because we're trying to pay off the debt, not charge more! We want to go to London. (I've been once, when my brother was living and getting married there. But there were tons of things I didn't get to do, that I would LOVE to do with Erik. The macabre side of London! I want to do the Jack the Ripper tour (they really have one!) and go to the Tower, and explore haunted spots... I also want to go to Amsterdam before I die. That's my number one thing, really. I have to go to Anne Frank's house... Also Florence and Venice. Little French villages and wine country. Prague looks really cool, also... Sigh.
