Fanfares

So we returned from the events down south with much fanfare. Arriving in Madison we encountered the beginning of a blizzard, which continued through the next day. We left town once the roads were decent enough to travel, going 45 mph on the interstate from Madison to Menomonie. The only drivers were trucks, mostly, and the occasional car. It was exhausting.

And then, coming home around 7pm, we find our house/cat sitter had left flowers, a card, soup and corn bread, and a plowed driveway. Talk about relief.... Such a soulful end to our journeys.

And chaos, of course. Shadow was super happy to be home, and proceeded to eat the cat poop in the litter box when we weren't watching.

And then, the morning after.

Wake up to dog whining to go out, discover she has pooped and peed all over the floor -- the new rug, the carpet, big poops, diarrhea, evacuation city in her little body. And of course the girls had their weekly homeschool group that morning to prepare for, and I had to clean it all up and rush to meet them at the FLC so Chris could go earn a paycheck. So I managed to clean EVERYTHING, and the dog poops again, without warning. Chris cleans that one and I manage to do other things, like drink my coffee. Then my family leaves for FLC and I vacuum the little dried bits of cat litter off the carpet, pack up the dog in the car, and drive 40 minutes with poopy puppy. The kid trade off goes well, but pup doesn't make it all the way home again and poops on her bed in the car. Luckily I could just wrap it up and put it in the trunk and find a place to take her out to poop again. Poor thing healed up a few hours later after two doses of slippery elm paste. We've planned about 53 ways to barricade the bathroom door from the pup so this never, ever happens again.

Today was a vet appointment (not related to the cat poop eating incident), a play date, and a squint-inducing sinus headache all day for me. We are so ready for some down time, trying to find a couple of hours to not do anything and just be home and calm. Maybe Monday.

Finally, I recently burned a scented oil that smelled a little like spices and sweet and cinnamon and other stuff named "horned god altar oil" (made by the witchy folk at Vermorlian). Pearl comes up to me and says "Mmmmm, something smells like mints." Pause. "It makes me want to get married!"