Let the Madness Begin

Day 3, Sunday

9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Between my coughing and Bartle's itch issues, I didn't sleep well, so I allowed myself another late morning. Much more of this dysfunctional sleep routine and I'll be in trouble. With all the warm weather, allergy season has started early and unfortunately for Bartle, this is rough. His ears are usually the first sign that his allergies are flaring up. He begins to scratch them insistently. Having a cone on his head prevents him access to his ears, so he scratches the cone trying to get to the itch then becomes so upset that he tries to push the cone over his own head. So for the majority of the night, I listened to his nails scratching the cone. Then I would get up and scratch his ears until he calmed. This was not as easy as it sounds as I'm confused in the middle of the night and he is upset and fidgety and I'm trying to scratch an area near his swelling without touching his bruising. We have Benadryl for him, but I was unsure of mixing it with his painkillers, anti-inflammatory, and joint medication. I know, my dog takes more meds than me right now. So I felt a bit shaky while getting ready for work and suddenly realized it had been an hour and forty minutes. This was not a good sign as this meant I was unaware of losing time.

11:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Drove into work and wrote up my blog post before beginning the day. Today marked the beginning of our March Madness programming. I worked with John all day which was fun. We have this interesting rapport and comfort level. I managed to cram a lot of stuff into my first hour before meeting with Kris, who was our speaker for the day. Kris and I met in Salt Lake City and sat next to each other on a return flight a few years ago. During the flight we discovered we had a lot in common, such as a love of genealogy, lecturing, travel, food, being rabid college football fans, and we both have spouses who are in the same professional field as us, which can be complicated. So I was quite pleased to introduce him for his lecture on Polish research. We had a moment before the session when my boss snuck in the back. Kris asked, if I knew Curt was planning to be there. I responded, no that he had an outside appointment today. Kris said, then he must be checking up on you, which I replied, maybe he is checking on you. This byplay has to do with the fact that a position might be coming open in my department in the coming year and there are many people interested in the job, including me. The lecture had a good crowd and Kris was phenomenal as expected. We parted with plans to try different levels of chili at the NGS Conference in May. Did I mention we both love food? The rest of the work shift was uneventful.

4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. I went home and talked to mom and dad during separate calls. Dad was at the airport so I couldn't clarify some things he said, but he did share that he had made copies of their birth and marriage certificates for my UDC application. Yay! I was a bit confused to hear my grandmother "had essentially gone off the rails and was being hospitalized." I don't know if this means she is in a hospital or an institution. She has suffered from dementia for years, but I pointed out to hubby that I thought she was a bit off for decades. Fed, medicated, cleaned, and walked Bartle.

6:30 p.m. - 12:30 a.m. Becky came over for our weekly t.v. viewing. We caught up on The Vampire Diaries and Once Upon a Time. Bartle was ecstatic at having his gal pal around. Instead of acting all whiny and pathetic, he was overly hyper. I was still a bit concerned because he is only eating about a quarter of his normal food intake, but based on his energy level around Becky, I think he'll be fine. Talked to hubby before medicating and cleaning Bartle's wound. Completed an hour of prayer and Bible reading, which I do every Sunday. And then I couldn't sleep. This was what I was afraid would happen. I'm now in one of those cycles where my body is exhausted yet I can't shut down the mental chaos in my head.