Crisis averted. Everything back to normal.

Or so I thought.

Still reeling from the Thanksgiving debacle, I got home to find Vinnie a little under the weather:





A trip to the emergency vet revealed that he was having an allergic reaction of some sort. Either to pollen, or he got bitten by something, or ate something...we don't know. By the time we actually got to see the doctor, most of the hives had disappeared. They still wanted to give him an injection of Benadryl, combined with a second shot of steroids to make it work faster. Yeah...um, NO.

And I was supposed to follow that up with 3 days of Benadryl pills at home. Since it was clearing up on it's own, I opted to just give him pills, if necessary. Within minutes of getting home and going outside, Vinnie was literally covered from head to toe in hives again. 10 times worse than I'd first found him. Even his little eyes were starting to swell shut. We put him in the bath tub, hoping to rinse off anything that might have been on his fur. Following the doseage recommended by the vet, I rolled up a Benadryl pill in some cheese and he gobbled it up. About 20 minutes later, it was coming back up.

I think passed my first "mommy" test when I picked the pill out of the mess, crushed it up and fed it to him again.

That time he kept it down and the hives were starting to disappear just before we went to bed. He got up this morning 90% hive-free. He ate breakfast and kept it down. We came home from work to find him good as new: a pleasant Halloween treat!

Dear Mr President:

Please make Thanksgiving the same day every year. KTHANXBAI.

Let me just start by saying that I'm a very organized and meticulous person. My checkbook is balanced down to the cent. I have ritualistic cleaning habits...yeah...I'd say I'm a little OCD.

With the holiday season fast-approaching, I found myself checking ticket prices to Pennsylvania every day. It's not easy being so far away from my family. Low and behold, I found a sweet deal to travel for Thanksgiving. Ib and I talked it over and once we confirmed available vacation days at work, I booked our flights.

Positively thrilled, I went into work yesterday and turned in my vacation request form. Pat, our HR lady, saved the day when she inadvertently discovered I planned to celebrate Thanksgiving a week earlier than everyone else this year. Ooops.


IF

Well, that explained the great price! I ran to my desk and dialed American Airlines. (You're whistling now, aren't you?)

I

We've got a sordid history, American and me. My first experience with them led to a strongly-worded letter vowing that I'd never fly with them again. But because I'm a sucker for a bargain, I gave them a second chance. And a third. And they've pretty much redeemed themselves. I think we're even now.

ONLY

So anyway, I held my breath as I explained to the customer service rep that I'm a complete moron and obviously don't know anything about calendars or US holidays. She explained that, unfortunately, I had purchased non-refundable tickets. We could change our dates of travel, at the price of $150 per person. BUT...since I'd booked less than 24 hours earlier, she could go ahead and waive those fees. WHEW! So after punching some numbers and checking (and RE-CHECKING) some dates and talking to Ib, we ended up with flights for Christmas instead.

HAD A BRAIN...

My First Blog

I thought it was about time to try out this blogging thing. I really enjoy reading my sister-in-law's blog, so why not?! (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAMESON! Can't wait to meet you!)

And after the day I had yesterday...I just have to share it with the world.