I really should get some self-respect...

Yesterday I had nowhere I needed to go.  I had things to do around the house, but when I woke up yesterday morning, I honestly thought I would not be leaving the house.

I popped out of bed and spent the morning in my 'jammies'.  This time of the year my jammies consist of joe boxer plaid shorts and an old soft sweatshirt that has been washed a minimum of one million times.  (I am a bit worried though, b/c I noticed a hole in one of the sleeves, and I am not sure what I will do when the day comes that I have to 'lose' the sweatshirt.)

Then my phone rings.  It's Sam.  He tells me he has an emergency and, can I get right over?  I tell him it will take me a while as I have not even showered yet.  He replies, "Oh dear.  Oh dear.  Oh dear."
Crap.  "Sam, what is it?  What happened?"
He informs me that his scooter has, once again, died.
"Sam, where are you?"
He was in the bathroom....
"Sam, I'll be right there.  I look like crap, but I'll be right there."
I leave the house.  Dressed as I am.  No shower.  Heck, I hadn't even brushed my teeth yet.  I was saving that for after my diet coke.  I mean, no one was here but me and Dolce anyway, and she didn't seem to mind.  I didn't even grab my purse.  I just ran out the door, jammies and all.
When I got to Sam, thankfully, he was out of the bathroom and sitting in his living room.  His scooter was out of the bathroom too, and it was sitting next to its plug.  (However, as I've mentioned previously, Sam cannot plug his scooter in.  The plug on the scooter is under the scooter seat, and Sam cannot get down that low.)  I asked him how he had gotten his scooter out of the bathroom, and He replied "inch by inch."  Poor Sam.....
I got the scooter situated better and plugged it in.  I got Sam situated better.  I straightened up his apartment.  Put his house phone on its charger, put his cell phone on its charger.  Made sure everything was 'good to go'.  Sam has someone else who takes care of him on Tuesdays, but she wasn't due until later.  I know he would not be alone for long, so once everything was taken care of, I went back home.
Sam does not live far from me, and I have told him before that I do not mind coming over at night to plug in his scooter.  That way, while he sleeps, the scooter can be charging.  So far he has never called me for this though.  When I asked him who has been plugging in his scooter at night, he told me that he just grabs whoever he can.  I, again, told him that I do not mind doing it.  I live close.  Just call.

Got home and actually brushed my teeth and took a shower.  However, because I still did not have plans to leave the house, I put back on my jammies and let my hair dry naturally.
Phone rings.
Jacob (Mark's son) is having an asthma/coughing attack at school, and no one else can be reached.  Can I please come and pick him up?
Crap.
I go.  Quickly.  Again, dressed in my same jammies.  At least this time I am clean and hopefully smell better and have minty fresh breath, but I am still in my jammies, and now my hair is wet.
I get to the school and apologize to everyone I see. I tell them I was (obviously) just out of the shower and jumped in my car to come get Jacob.  Jacob is still coughing uncontrollably and having a hard time breathing.  Manage to get a Dr. appointment, but thankfully I have time to swing by the house and change clothes.  I get Jake comforted; both his coughing and his breathing are getting more normal and under control.  I change clothes.  JD (Jake's mom's boyfriend) shows up to get Jacob.  I had sent Jacob's mom an email telling her what was going on, and she wanted to take him to the doctor.  No problem.  Now I'm finally dressed, and I have no place to go.
But since I'm dressed, I stay dressed the rest of the day.  Go me.

That evening, I decide to get comfy.  I change back into my jammies, wash my face, etc.  Then I remember Sam's scooter.  I call Sam.  His scooter is not plugged in, and yes, it would be great if I could come do that for him.  It's late.  It's dark.  Who will see me now?  I go.
When I get to Sam's building, there is both an ambulance and firetruck out front.  Oh my.  I send up a quick prayer for whoever may be in need of help....  As I reach Sam's apartment, I realize the paramedics are at the apartment next door.  The door is wide open, people everywhere.  And in the midst of this, is someone I have just recently met.
(I have recently begun taking classes on how to be a tax preparer from Jackson Hewitt.  I am really loving the classes.  The teacher makes it fun, and the people are great.  Joan is one of the 'higher ups' at Jackson Hewitt's Las Cruces' offices.)
... and there she sits on the floor of the apartment next to Sam's.  I look in and get her attention.  I point to Sam's door and she asks if he's a relative.  I tell her, no, he is someone that I look in on.  She nods to a lady I cannot see and says, "She's my mother."  I tell her that I've got to go, but I'll be back.
I go and take care of Sam.  He's already in bed, so there is not much to do.  I plug in the scooter, check on a few lights and let myself out.
From what I can gather, Joan came to check on her mom and found her mom lying on the floor.  Her mom was being a bit incoherent and Joan was scared to move her for fear of making the fall worse.  Joan called 911.  Her mom seemed to be OK.  They were trying to decide whether or not to take her to the ER, but thankfully, she appeared to be OK; shaken up, but OK.
So........ the one and only time I was dressed yesterday, I went nowhere, but by golly every time I was being lazy in my jammies, well, then ... I got to go places.
I think I'll go grab a shower and get dressed.  See what today brings......

Sam and football

Sam loves college football.  He's not much of a fan of the NFL, but he loves college.  I've started taking him a newspaper each Saturday morning so he can plan his day...

He checked out the paper this morning and informed me there was so much good football on today that he would not be able to go down to lunch.  I would have to bring his lunch to him, b/c he could not leave the television.

His heart belongs to Florida State University.  As I left his house today, after dropping off his taco place from Chilitos,  he was cussing at the TV.

pet sitters' guild...

Here in Las Cruces a few of the pet sitters have gotten together to form a guild.  They meet; they share stories; they share ideas; they share laughs.  Instead of competing against one another, they help one another.  I love the idea.  I'm too new to join, but they did invite me to sit in on a meeting.

The meeting was this morning, and I got to meet most of the members of the guild.  I must say, I loved them all.  Maybe there is just something special about people who love animals ... they had varied personalities, but they were all so warm, so welcoming and so inviting.

We got some information about First Aid and CPR for animals.  Hopefully we'll be able to get together and take the class so that we can all learn something and all become certified.  Mouth to mouth on a dog snout is a bit different than mouth to mouth on a human....

Fred...

A while back, I got a phone call from Fred.  He left a message saying he thought he had the right phone number.  Was I the person who dog sat?  I called him back and got his voice mail, and he didn't call back.  I figured either he found someone else, or things had changed for him.  Wednesday night, he left another message.  I called back and got his voice mail.  I was beginning to think this was a bit ridiculous, and I didn't even really care if I ever met Fred or not.  If it was meant to be, it would work out ... but we seemed to always be missing each other, and I still wasn't really sure what Fred even wanted.
Well .....  I finally got Fred, and I am so happy that I did.  Fred is a photographer who travels the world.  Fred has the neatest house.  I absolutely love it.  Not big, but spacious and open.  Fred has a five year old lab.
Now this is why we love Fred.  Fred explained to me that he never had dogs.  He always had cats.  He travels, and cats, being so much more independent, were much more suited for his lifestyle.  However, he heard of someone who had a litter of lab puppies, and if they did not find homes for the puppies, this person was going to drown all the dogs.  Fred said there was no way he could NOT take a puppy.  So he took Sailor .... Sailor is now five.  Sailor is adorable.  I'm not sure how much I'll get to see Sailor, but it sounds like it might be often.
I'm so excited .....

Scooter...

Sam called me early this morning.  (before 6:00 am)  He'd had a bad night.  His legs had been hurting so much that he took an extra pain pill, but then the extra pain pill made him dizzy.
...but his biggest problem was that his scooter was out of 'juice'.  The battery was dead.  The thing is, he cannot plug his scooter in when it needs to be charged.  The plug on the scooter is below the seat.  In order to get the plug from the charger plugged into the scooter, one must bend down and finagle the plug into the socket UNDER the seat.  Now for me, this is easy ... but aren't these scooters mainly used by people who are either handicapped or elderly?  Seriously, is this the best they (the scooter makers) could do?  Sam cannot plug his own scooter in.  And I'm guessing, there are many others in this same situation.
I told Sam that I could start coming by each evening to plug in his scooter.....

prayers for Misty...

Misty is an adorable tiny little teacup poodle. (And, yes, I realize "tiny little" is redundant, but this poodle is that small.)  Misty is a dark charcoal gray; so dark she's almost black.  Misty has a teeny tiny little tail that is too cute when she is wagging it.  Misty belongs to a woman in Sam's building.  I often see the woman with Misty.  The woman holds on to Misty's pink leash while at the same time pushing her walker. (She just got a new walker which is also pink.)  I've stopped on occasion to pet Misty and to talk with the woman.  She lived for a while in Houston, although she's not from Houston.  She and her husband moved there when her husband was quite ill so that he could see some of the best doctors in the country.  Sadly, even with the Houston Medical Center helping, her husband's illness won.  After her husband died, a niece gave her a teacup puppy.  She's had Misty for about eight years now ... maybe nine.  I should remember that better, but I don't.  She left Houston after her husband's death, and eventually ended up in Sam's building talking to me.

I saw her again this morning, and I had to stop and pet Misty.  The woman informed me that Misty will be having surgery tomorrow.  Misty has a tumor.  I told the woman that I hoped everything went wonderfully for Misty and her surgery, and the woman picked up Misty, pet her so softly and said, "It has to be.  It just has to be."  She informed me that she has been talking to God so much about this.  I told her that I would talk to God about Misty too.  She was thankful ...

I would be thankful for any prayers that y'all can send up for Misty as well.

breakfast...

Sam has a cafeteria in his building where he goes to breakfast most mornings, but on occasion he likes me to bring him an egg mcmuffin from McDonalds.  My routine is to go thru McDonald's and get him his egg mcmuffin, then head over to Starbucks for a white mocha frappuccino.  The other morning he mentioned that he was getting a bit tired with his sandwich, so yesterday instead of the egg mcmuffin, I grabbed him a toaster sandwich from Sonic.  His only remark was, "We'll stay with the old sandwich."
I thought it was hilarious....