mistressofmuses | Beware the Ides of March

If only we'd gone for some historical reenactment...

Next week is going to be a busy one, at least in some regards.

I'm going over to hang out with Taylor tomorrow night through Tuesday morning. We'd been planning that already, back when mom was going to be down in NM. Still doing it, but also glad I'll get to see mom after the injured rib thing.

(Mom says it still really sucks, and hurts a whole lot, but seems slightly better every day. She was told by both urgent cares that she needs to stay active and make sure to take deep breaths. Since deep breaths feel like being stabbed, she said she understands why people start only breathing shallowly, so she's trying to force deep breathing exercises as a form of home PT.)

Then Alex is going to Kansas, Thursday through Saturday. This is for BreyerMidwest, a model show and event. For the last several years it's been BreyerWest, held in Colorado, but this year they moved it to Kansas, which is now apparently the permanent home. (I have lots of mostly annoyed feelings about this; it was supposed to be a sort of alternative event for people who couldn't make a trip out to Kentucky for the annual BreyerFest, but now it's basically in the middle of the country, removing the original purpose of making something more easily accessible to the western chunk of the country.) Since I just took a long weekend off in February, I can't take another this month. So Alex is going solo.

This means I am alone with the dogs and no car while working, which is not ideal.

I've been planning to stay over at mom and Taylor's for those few days, getting rides to and from work when possible (and taking Uber or Lyft if needed), and since Taylor works from home, the dogs don't have to be alone and confined all day. (While Cy would be okay, Bella would have to be kenneled, and nine hours while I'm at work is just so long.)

This was something I have been *really* worried about, because of the new cat. Cy loves cats, and Bella mostly seems just *interested* in cats, but I am so afraid of her trying to chase, and having something bad happen. She has more of an obvious prey drive than Cy does, even if she's never acted aggressively toward cats she has seen. While Taylor would be home, they are working, and can't have all their focus on the animals. We do not yet know how Jaspurr feels about dogs; Mocha made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with the dogs, so we kept them separated for the one day that mom was dogsitting, but that's less feasible for three whole days.

Now that mom will also be there (and not in NM) I am slightly less worried, because I don't think there will be as much unsupervised time... but also, my mom has badly bruised ribs! So dealing with a super energetic dog is probably low on the list of desirable activities. :/

So... looking forward to hanging out with Taylor quite a bit, but not looking forward to the anxiety about animal interactions that I'm not present to supervise. I know that all the other times I've been anxious about the dogs - when we left Cy with mom, then when we left him with her overnight, then when it was both dogs, then when it was both dogs while Mocha was also there - it has been fine, despite my worry. That doesn't make the worry go away.

-

Still not 100% over the crud I got last week, but still doing better than everyone else who got it. Wednesday was rough, and so was today a bit, but overall it's mostly just minor annoyance at this point.

I still feel really behind after having lost a bunch of days to being too sick to do much more than sleep, though. I need to get my friend's book chapter back to her. I've fallen behind on DW. I haven't even touched my own writing for weeks now. (Still doing okay at reading, but not much else. Four books done for the month so far!) I know that this upcoming week, what with not being home for more than a single night, I won't be getting much done. I'll hopefully manage to get my friend's chapter completed, and then maybe next week I'll feel okay about easing back to writing again.

Of course, it doesn't help that I *still* just want to sleep once I get home. :/ Every time I give in to that, I just get farther behind, but every time I *don't*, I'm afraid I'm extending my time spent sick! I hate it.

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I'm sorry about all the complications with pet care! :/ That's so stressful.

it has been fine, despite my worry. That doesn't make the worry go away.

If only...!

Every time I give in to that, I just get farther behind, but every time I *don't*, I'm afraid I'm extending my time spent sick! I hate it.

So frustrating! Rest is so, so important, but it's awfully hard.

It is stressful. We did a sort-of introduction today: cat stayed upstairs and just stared through the railings; dogs took forever to notice him, but were excited when they did see him, but neither of them tried to pursue or get to him. Just stood on the main floor and squeaked, lol. So that's at least a little encouraging. I just hate being worried about worst-case scenarios.

Ugh, seriously. Rest is really important, but so hard when you're already behind and know you're just getting more and more so! I feel like I always forget how frustrating illnesses are *after* you start recovering for just that reason.

I hear you about worrying about dog care! We used to take our dogs to Pip's parents, but then they had the temerity to get older and can't handle the dogs now. We leave them home with Pip's sister coming over several times a day to feed/walk them, but I hate that they're cooped up and alone the rest of the time.

That does sound weird about moving the model show.

I'm sorry the crud is still hanging on!

I hope you do feel well enough to catch up on things.

It's tough because it's so rarely an issue that there just isn't much of a plan in place for when it *is* a problem. Alex being home basically 24/7 means never worrying about the dogs being unattended for long... but then the rare times when he can't for whatever reason make it hard to figure out a plan. This is the first time where the cat is a complicating factor.

I'm so annoyed about them moving the model show! As is the previous organizer, who stepped down last year, and who had been the one trying to make sure the western states had an event they could get to fairly easily. It's moved around the west before: it was in California one year, in Oregon a couple years, and then Colorado for several. It was nice when it was only a twenty minute drive, but I'd at least *get it* if it had moved to another state in the same region. :/

So beyond ready for the crud to move out and stay gone! I think the catching up will be a slow process, but I'm hoping to get started on it.

Same about it not usually being an issue! Pip takes the dogs to work with him and I pick them up around noon (we joke that they only like to put in a half day, but it's only partly a joke, because they actually start looking for me, like they know when it's time to go home *g*). When I worked out, we had a dog who loved to go to the garage and would stay there all day. Then again, at 4pm he knew it was time to go and he'd go looking for Pip, lol!

Yeah, seems the move defeats the purpose of having it in the first place!

Go away, crud!

Haha, Alex says the dogs start getting restless here about fifteen or twenty minutes before it's usually time to come pick me up from work. Cy doesn't come along anymore, but Bella definitely knows when it's time, ha.

Definitely still annoyed about the fact they moved the show. I know we were spoiled having it basically just down the road from us, but now it's a 6-7 hour drive. For people even farther west, it basically now *has* to be something you fly out for, and that's rough when you're trying to bring a bunch of fragile and expensive difficult-to-replace models. Trying to pack them well enough to survive airline baggage handling is tough and expensive!

Finally, the crud seems to be gone!

*hugshugs* Sounds like you've got some good quality time ahead of you to spend with Taylor and your mom, and that's a good thing, even with the dogs. I bet you won't have to worry about them so much, and it'll be good that you won't have to uber from your place to work the whole time Alex is gone.

Fortunately the days over there went fine, and there weren't any issues. It was nice to spend some time with them, too.

I hope the animals are peaceful together and that you recover soon!

Luckily it was a reasonably peaceful few days, and the illness does seem to have worked its way out! Thank you!

we were all cheering for a historical reenactment :/

What a pain to not a vehicle for work! I hope all the animals Behave 🤞

I haven't been writing, either - it's super easy for that one to fall down the priority list & it sounds like you have a LOT going on!

Seriously. I was so hopeful...

Yeah, it's usually no real problem to only have the one vehicle (since I mostly don't drive anyway) but being stuck without one at all is tough!

Luckily, the animals were all good, and the three days were fairly low-stress.

Unfortunately, writing does always seem to be the thing that gets shuffled down the priority list. When I have other stuff that comes up, or things I need to spend time getting caught up on, that's the easiest place to take the time from. Not ideal, but hopefully I'll get a chance to nudge it back up the priorities list... er, eventually.

That sucks that the event is moving. Is that the main one you usually do, or are there others?

I hope all the pet stuff goes smoothly.

I hope you keep feeling better and somehow get some rest

Yeah... I know we were spoiled having it be like, twenty minutes away for several years, but it sucks having to drive 6 or 7 hours if we want to do it now. And the people who live even further west are screwed even more.
It's definitely the most "official" show we ever go to. It's one of two that are actually sponsored by the primary company that makes the models. The other is out in Kentucky over the summer, but that's too far for us to travel (too many days for me to take off work), so it was nice having this alternative.
There are other shows that are hosted by other hobbyists, but the girl who was hosting two of the biggest ones in the region (both in Wyoming) is taking at least one year off from it, so we'll see if many others crop up.

The pet stuff luckily went more smoothly than I worried. No altercations, no terrible stress! (I mean, *I* was stressed, lol, but that's me.)

Fortunately the crud seems to have finally gone away, despite getting very little sleep for the days I was away.

Oof, that sucks. It makes sense that the shows would be near the showrunners, though.

Glad the crud's gone and hope you get some good rest

Beware the Ides of March

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