Kyle then left at about 7:30 a.m. with his friend for a seminar that was until 5:30 p.m. I was left on dog duty. I was told if I needed to leave the house to leave the dog outside and just put something in front of the door so he couldn't scratch the door. I needed to go to the store to get some groceries, so I put the dog outside, put the mower in front of the door, and left the yard by way of my gate. At this point I step on a rotten hard-boiled egg. How it got there, I will never know because we don't even have hard-boiled eggs.
I went back in my house to grab my keys, wallet, and phone when I heard the LOUDEST commotion out by the gate. My first thought is that this dog is freaking out that I left and he is jumping on the gate trying to break it down. I go outside to find that I was somewhat right; however, he was not jumping on the gate. The dog was very close to digging a hole deep enough to slide under. So, now it's 7:45 a.m., I've almost lost a dog that is not mine, and I've stepped on a rotten hard-boiled egg.
I decided to just forget about the dog scratching the door because I'd rather him scratch the door than escape on my watch. I then moved the mower and a trash can in front of the gate on his side and put an old coffee table on the other side. I left for the store and returned to find that my barricade had worked so far.
I decided to go back and lay in bed for a little bit and watch a movie with Tumnus to see if I could get in a little nap when I see that a spot he had on his leg had formed a ring around it. He developed this spot on Wednesday so I sent Kyle a picture of the newest development and he said, "Find a vet." I called the first one and no one was available so I moved on to another vet. They only had one vet there but she agreed to squeeze Tumnus in.
He and I headed to Main Street Veterinary (which by the way is not even close to Main Street) and we began filling out paperwork. He was clearly scared as he sat as close as possible to my chest in the chair as we waited for the vet. We went back and the tech checked his weight, temperature, and looked at the spot. She then left us to wait for the vet. She came back a minute later and said the vet was on the phone with a patient and would be in soon. I could hear the vet on the phone and she had the most calming voice and I knew immediately that I would like her.
After waiting for a while, the vet came in to take a look at Tumnus. She asked how to say his name and when I said it she looked at him and said, "Are you a Narnian?" At that point, I didn't care how much she knew about veterinarian medicine. She knew Mr. Tumnus was a Narnian, so she was okay in my book.
She looked at his leg and found other spots that I hadn't seen and decided to do a skin scrape to test for yeast and mites. He was so good, even when they put him on his back. He HATES being on his back. He becomes rigid and fights against it with all his might. She took a look at the samples and said there was no yeast and it didn't look like mites. She put him on Clavamox, an antibiotic, and said we should see it clear up in 3-5 days. I was relieved it was not something bigger.
As we were waiting to pay for the visit, a couple came in with the tiniest, cutest, little black female dog. She was terrified. The man had her in his arms and she was crawling all the way up his chest and onto his shoulder. They explained that she had showed up on their doorstep and they were coming to see if she was microchipped. I didn't get to see whether or not they got to keep her, but she was the sweetest little dog.
Tumnus and I left to grab some lunch on the way home. It was a beautifully sunny day yesterday so I rolled the window down and let Tumnus put his head out after being cooped up in the vet's office for two hours. He seemed to really enjoy it, so we took the long way home. We had lunch and then began prepping for the small group I was going to attend later. I was told maybe 10 girls would be there so I wrote out my recipe on ten little cards to take to the small group.
It was not long before I realized it was time to start cooking. I prepared the Chile Relleno Casserole and put it in the oven to bake for 45 minutes. Tumnus and I watched a movie and did our hair while we waited on the casserole to bake. The closer it got to being done, the more delicious my house smelled. Yum, nothing better than the smell of green chile. After 45 minutes, I took it out of the oven and it looked delicious.
I continued getting ready all while texting Kyle about my nerves. He reassured me that it would be fine and my dish would tasted good. I left for the small group at a time when I knew I would arrive at least five minutes late to give others a chance to get there first. I arrived at the house and immediately regretted joining the group. I just felt very overwhelmed and uncomfortable when I pulled up to a house with children running in and out. I called Kyle really quick to have him talk me out of wanting to leave and he did.
I got out of the car and walked up to the house, hoping that at least one other girl would be there, but that was not the case. I was the first one to arrive and sat there for another 15 minutes before anyone else showed up. The second lady to show up was the best friend of the host and I felt so awkward. The host kept saying things like, "I hope other people show up." Ummmmm, ya, so do I. She said she was expecting about 8 ladies to be there. It ended up being 5 ladies plus the host.
All of the women there were older and had many children between the five of them. I was the only one without children and I just felt very out of place. Like, I love children, and they are definitely cute sometimes, but when somebody goes on and on about their kid that I don't know as if I do know them, I get very bored. The other awkward part was out of 6 women, 4 were already friends with history.
Have you ever hung out with a group of people who all either go to the same school, work at the same job, or come from the same small town? If you have and you don't go the school, work at the job, or come from the same small town you know exactly how I felt. It's awkward and boring to sit and listen to stories that you don't know. It's not an easy way to engage in conversation. You end up sitting there and just listening, never really having an opportunity to join in.
Sidenote: If you are a hostess and this starts happening, stop it. It's very uncomfortable for the new people.
The night went on, we ate the food we brought, the host talked for about 20 minutes about her sorted past. Again, not engaging the new people and leaving me to just sit and listen. We then played Apples to Apples. It's an alright game but it is not by any means a kick in the pants. I was at the point where I wanted to go so badly that I was monitoring who was close to winning and trying to make them win so the game would be over.
I said nice to meet you, grabbed my leftovers, and was out of there. Needless to say, it was kind of a bust for me, but I am not giving up. I have e-mailed the director of small groups to see if she can point me in the right direction to find a small group with younger girls who might be closer to my stage in life. So now I wait to see what she says and I pat myself on the back for baking the dish, driving to the stranger's house, getting out of the car, being the first one to arrive, making what little conversation I could, staying to play the game, and just giving it all a shot.
Today has been much calmer. I woke up at 7 a.m. instead of five, attended church solo, ran a few quick errands, and now just plan on relaxing today.
I will leave you with this quote:
"Courage is grace under pressure." - Ernest Hemingway
Xoxo,
Nicole (and Tumnus)
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