What a Week!

When we got back from the beach, my middle son called and said he was having trouble with our dogs. He took them home to keep at his apartment and we thought it was going to work out fine. They are both tiny dogs, get along well with each other, and he loves having the company. However, it seems one of them had begun to piddle anywhere and everywhere. This from a dog I had housebroken when I got him as a puppy. I realized he had never had to try to "go" on a schedule before. He was used to going to the door and I'd jump up and let him out into the back courtyard anytime he seemed to want to go out. With my son he had to go during a morning walk, then again at lunch when my son came home to eat, at five when my son got home from work, and then again before bedtime. He had also begun to cry at night.

We thought maybe he was going through mama withdrawal, since he'd always been with me. The other dog was doing fine. So I told my son to bring the pee-pot dog back home and I'd work with him and see if I could get any improvement. One thing my son requested was that I always take him out on a leash because he had such a time getting him used to "going" on a leash, and I agreed.

Well, yesterday, I took the dog for a walk in the morning, first thing, and he went. No problem. Then about ten o'clock he made a mad dash for the back door whining and I figured he couldn't wait any longer, so I ran to find the leash. I grabbed it, grabbed the dog, and fumbling with all that, got him outside, clipped on the leash, and all was well.....Until I decided he had finished and we needed to go back in. I had locked myself out. No shoes. No cell phone. No keys. Just a happy dog who got to pee and a mom who was pissed.

None of my neighbors are home during the day so I knew going somewhere to use a phone was useless. I decided I had to find a way to get into the house, since my situation was complicated by having food cooking in the oven and a husband not due home for several hours. Our back door has the top half covered by several small panes of glass, so I thought I'd just find something in the utility room off our garage to break out one pane and get inside. Well, it turns out we have been much safer all these years than we realized, because even with a hammer and my beating on that glass with all my might, that sucker would not break.

I guess it's some sort of safety glass, tempered glass, or something. I was really getting mad by then. It was hot outside, I had upset the dog by making all that noise with the hammer and he was whining. I had to get inside.

So I took a large flathead screwdriver and busted out the side of the door knob latch. (We also have a deadbolt on that door, which thankfully was not latched, so I knew we could secure the door with that until I could repair the knob. It worked and we got inside. I called my husband to tell him how happy he should be that we have such secure glass in our door but he didn't seem to be as thrilled about it as I was, especially when I told him what I had done to the door facing. He also didn't seem to believe that the glass was that unbreakable, so I actually demonstrated it to him with the hammer when he came home.

Then tonight, we were going to go to the temple to a Shabbat service. Well, tonight we got over there for the service that was posted in the bulletin we received last week saying the service was at 8 PM. We got there at 7:30, and found the parking lot full of cars. These folks usually all arrive about five minutes before services, so that was unusual.

We went inside and could hear the service going on inside as we approached the sanctuary, so we turned around and left. I didn't want to walk in and interrupt anything. It's not a short drive there either, so we wasted over a hour getting there. Maybe I was just being grouchy, but that really ticked me off.

I decided to go to the family reunion thing. I'm not sure which is more uncomfortable for me, going through the dread of going or the guilt of not going. I figured the guilt would be worse.

I hope next week will be better than this one.

I did try out a new recipe today. I made apple blintzes. They are made from crepes with an apple filling. It took awhile to make the crepes but in the end, the taste was great. I'll put a picture of them with this post.