huzzah!

Normally, I'm pretty annoyed with myself when I worry about everything. BUT! For the second time in two weeks, my obsessive worrying has paid off!

Last night, I couldn't find my Bluetooth headset. I had it on Friday, brought it into the house, and it vanished. I checked under the couch, in every bag I've ever used, on my desk in my guest room, under Sadie's bed...I just couldn't find the darn thing! I sat on the couch, which was the last place I had it, and remembered that I crumpled up a ton of coupons and thrown them on my coffee table. I had then scooped up the coupons and thrown them out.

I have gone through the garbage several times to find things, and it is never there, but of course, this time I knew if I didn't look through the garbage I would be bothered forever. So even though I felt stupid and knew I wasn't going to find it, I got a plastic bag on my arm and dug  through egg shells, spearmint tea, what appeared to be old frozen fruit, and finally got to the bottom, where the coupons were. And there, only slightly worse for wear, was my Bluetooth.

Yay! Anxiety does good things sometimes!

(I cleaned it off with anti-bacterial wipes and used water on the plastic piece that actually goes into my ear for those of you who think I'm super gross right now. Trust me: IT'S CLEAN.)

:)

The good things about anxiety

1. It gives me a reason to use the "x" button on my keyboard.

2. It helps me keep my dog from getting paralyzed. Sadie was not having a good weekend; she was yelping (really, screaming) every time she jumped on anything; my bed, the couch, the curb. I wasn't able to lift her up without her piercing my ears. Worried, as I tend to be, I took her to the vet, all the while assuming it was going to cost close to a thousand dollars (x-rays, unknowns, etc) and we still wouldn't know what was wrong. I would have just over-reacted.

Turns out she hurt her back. If I had waited, not listening to my anxiety, she might have gotten much, much worse--permanent back damage, lots of pain, and possibly back leg paralysis (and cost me wayyy more than the $50 it took for the check up). Now she's feeling much better thanks to prednisone and bedrest. Plus, she gets her own super cute bed now!

OK, it's not totally super cute, but 

So, while I usually hate my anxiety, this weekend it did me good. 

Also, I rode 15.4 miles. School starts tomorrow, and I'm guest blogging for a friend. Wohoo! 

Sadie.

My Dog is judging me.

She has a perfectly good warm body downstairs, who will gladly pet her and hug and squeeze her, and pay attention. Instead, she stands, eyes clear, ears at what we call Defcon 2 (raised, but not entirely alert), with a faint noise, between a wheeze and a whine, coming out of her nose every time she breathes. She watches me, unmoving, as I work.

She only does this when I start working on work. If I am sitting, bullshitting at the computer, playing The Settlers: Rise of an Empire, or reading Slate nonstop, she is upstairs, licking herself on my pillows, or downstairs, lounging in the sun. Once I crack open a book and start typing, though, she judges.

You don’t love me. The look says. Something else is more important.

I’ll give her food. I’ll give her water. I’ll give her treats. I’ll set her up on the couch with a wonderfully fluffy Big Dog from Petsmart. I’ll throw a stuffingless raccoon into the other room for her to fetch. I’ll squeak a lion bleeding white polyester from the neck to distract her.

Nothing.

Just the eyes, and the faint noise.

No, it says, I’ll be ok. Don’t mind me. Standing here, dying from lack of affection.  

Brat.

She will, eventually, sometimes, leave. She'll go curl up on her bed, or on the couch, and she'll give a high pitched cry every few minutes, just in case I have forgotten her. 

When I call her to me, she doesn't come. If I try to pick her up to put her on my lap, she backs away a few steps. If I catch her, she jumps off a few seconds after being set up between me and the computer, a painstaking process that involves readjustments of elbows and nails digging into thighs. She'll then stand about two feet from my chair and whine/weep/wheeze.  

My dog. I love her. Who else shows such devotion to my work? She always knows when I am working, and stands guard until I am done. Even if it is fricken annoying. 

Going without

Each month for as long as I can, I've decided to go without something I usually go with. It started in July with pop. I chose that because I drank wayyy too much and I was trying to get healthier. I did really well, only having pop on July 4th--and maybe once or twice after that. This month, I'm trying to go without eating out. Special occasions don't count (A friend is moving back home down south, and we'll probably go out to dinner for that). Right now, I was just thinking I could go get Dunkin' Donuts on my way to work. That's the sort of thing I want to avoid in August. :)

Friday. :)

ON Friday, I went to the Poconos for my friend's wedding. There were four of us road tripping together, and it was planned that we would all meet at my house and leave from here, since I'm the most northern of everyone these days. One of my fellow road trippers said it would only take about 3 hours and 20 minutes to get to the venue, so we decided to leave around 1:00. We told the other two to be at my house by 12:30, because they are people who tend to be late (but they have a kid, so we still love them.)

Around 8:45, I met my soon-to-be-roommate to help him move stuff from his house to my house. Around 10:30, I was back at my house and trying to move stuff from my basement to my guest room. At 11:35 I stopped to make myself lunch. At 11:45 I realized I forgot to get the bride and groom their card and present, so I ran to Walmart. At 12:05 I was back at my house and in the shower, at which time my soon-to-be roomie showed up with some more of his stuff. At 12:15 I was out and trying on my dress, which wouldn't zip. STBR couldn't zip it up, either, and I thought I was going to have to change my whole outfit. At 12: 18 I was drying my hair (topless, because it was REALLY hot in my bathroom) when my BFF and fellow roadtripper came in and scared the ever-loving crap out of me by laughing at the fact I was drying my hair while topless. (At least she understood why). She got my dress zipped up and went to hang with STBR before the rest of the gang showed up. At 12:35, everyone was downstairs, waiting for me. At 12:50, STBR told me he wasn't moving in that day, as planned, but had been told he couldn't move out until September.  By 1:00, we were all in the car, BFF and I wearing our dresses, the others planning to change once we got there. The ceremony started at 5:00. According to the original plan, we would get there around 4:30.

I put the directions into my GPS, and saw that the trip was actually four and half hours, without traffic or bathroom breaks. Not three. That would put us there at 5:30, which should be right after the ceremony ended.

Normally, this would have made me a cranky, rotting, pissy, angry, anxious mess. But I truly wasn't upset. I knew BFF felt bad about not actually checking, so on one hand I didn't want to make her feel worse. But I also genuinely didn't mind all that much. We kind of played the licence plate game, stopped at a gas station called LIBERTY! to change, and I drove the mountain leg of the trip. WE actually made up most of our time, but got stuck in traffic and lost it all again. But still, it was fine.

We got to the venue right as the B&G were starting their "sand ceremony," where they poured two colors of sand together to represent each other. We saw them proclaimed as husband and wife, and we danced the night away. We ate good food and drank too much champagne (three extra glasses at our table! you can't waste that!) and then drove home (not right away, duh).

There were little hotdogs wrapped in a pastries, and delicious crab cakes. There was a cookie table and a candy table and cake and ice cream for all. The Bride looked beautiful in her dress, and the groom had his favorite beer with him for the evening. Everyone was happy, or at least looked it. It was a really, really nice night.

Best part of the day: Watching the Groom's family dance at their dinner tables, while seated, to "Sweet Caroline."

Quote of the day:
Megan: "I'm a super-trucker." and "Adam, he's on Bath Salts!"
Adam: "Who needs bath salts when you have hair spray in a car?"

Song for the Day: Sweet Caroline (BAH BAH BAH) good times have never been so good (SO GOOD. SO GOOD. SO GOOD.)