Today was long. And hard. Just like this post.

It started out with my mom coming in my room at 7:30 to get Fizzgigg, because he and her dog Bonnie both had appointments with the groomer. She woke me up to ask me where his collar was. It was with his leash. Then I had to offer several possibilities as to where his leash would be before she left. She must've found it because she didn't come back, and I managed to fall back to sleep just in time for some extremely hazy dream weirdness before the alarm went off and I had to get up. I didn't go to my AM class, because really, I'm all talked, read and listened out on Marx's theories and I had a test this afternoon that I still wasn't prepared for. Had enough time to have my coffee and a banana and to get a wee bit of studying in before I had to get dressed and go pick up the dogs, since I had agreed to pick them up on the way home from my morning class.

Got to the groomer's okay. Bonnie was sitting behind the pet gate looking well groomed and cute but forlorn when I walked in. --Gah! I just choked on my Mudslide! Yes, I have Mudslides. More on that later. I swallowed it down the wrong pipe and spewed it everywhere. I drank some water but I can't stop coughing. Gag. Literally. Anyway, back to our tale of grooming woe-- The groomer got Bonnie back up on the table and put some gunk on her foot, explaining that they'd had a slight nail filing mishap and that her paw was bleeding, but that the gunk should make it stop. Then she turned Bonnie loose and went to load her in the van while they fetched Fizzgigg.

When I went back in for him, he was on his leash (Mom found it, yay!) in the lobby, being led by the groomer's little boy who couldn't have been more than 5. That was an adorable sight to behold. Even so, my heart sank a little when I saw Fizz. Not that she did a bad job, she made him look like the toy poodle that he is (puppy cut, mind you, not the poufy poodle puffball haircut), and while he's still cute, he just looks like an entirely different dog and it always takes some getting used to. I really wish I could just keep him shaggy. If I had the time and patience to brush him regularly, I probably would, but I don't, so it's not such a good idea. But when his hair's all grown out he's so scruffy and puppy-like and he looks exactly like a Muppet and he is just So. Frickin'. Cute. It'll take about a month till he starts to look that cute again. But oh well, he always seems to feel better after a hair cut (not to mention about a half a pound lighter), and with impending warm weather, it was time.

I get back out to the van and we get underway when I discover that Bonnie has not stopped bleeding. It's not gushing or anything, but she's tracking spots of doggie blood all over the van. Ew. So I find a napkin and I'm trying to get her to let me wrap it around her paw and she's extremely disgruntled and gnawing on my hand and I'm paying more attention to her than the road and I come thisclose to knocking over a mailbox. At which point I pull over and at least make her let me spread napkins out on the chair beneath her. She growled at me the entire time, but she let me. She's really not a mean dog, she was just terribly upset. So I loved on her and calmed her down, and eventually we all made it home in one piece, and by then she really did stop bleeding and seemed to be in a much better mood.

Once the dogs were squared away, I had a few hours left to study -- which, since it was open book, consisted mostly of marking key pages with Post-its -- and grab a bite to eat. Mom got home from wherever it was she had gone, having convinced a friend to drive out to our house and pick her up for a change, and reminded me that she had a doctor's appointment this afternoon so I had to come straight home after class so she could have the van. She has high blood pressure, by the way. They don't know why. She's scheduled for a whole bunch of tests a couple of weeks from now. Anyway, I went to class, took the test, didn't write fast enough (nor did anybody else because nobody finished before the class was scheduled to end), so I didn't finish. Well, I did, just barely, but I had to rush through the last couple of questions and give incomplete answers and I didn't even have time to look at the extra credit questions. So, I could've done better, if I'd had more time. Which I would have, seeing as how the prof was letting us take as much time as we needed to get through it, had I not had to get the van back home for my mom. Grr. Arrgh.

I also needed to go to the store. So I called mom and told her I'd just pick her up and drive her to the doctor so I could do my shopping while she was there. I figured I could use the drive time to talk to her about this vehicular situation, which has really got to end. Then it occurred to me that my brother's wife would probably tag along, so I called back to see, and sure enough, she was coming too. So I told my mom all about how I probably missed out on an A because I had to stop taking the test so I could get the car back to her. I almost broke down over the phone, telling her that I don't care if it's selfish, I need my car back and I want it back now, and it wasn't right for her to just give it away without consulting me in the first place, and all the while I'm kinda feeling like a shit because I know she's going to the doctor for her high blood pressure and I don't want to give her stress, but dammit, this is ridiculous! My brother's car got stolen months ago and when he "borrowed" my car to begin with it was only supposed to be for a week, two tops.

I know some of you are thinking that I should just talk to him about it myself, but, well, my brother and I aren't close, we hardly ever talk beyond small talk and the occasional joking around, and we're both extremely non-confrontational. As such I know he'd just tell me what I wanted to hear, fully believing it at the time, and I'd take him at his word fully knowing that I shouldn't, and it would be unproductive and 27 different shades of weird.

So mom agreed to talk to him. Which, she told me a short while ago, she did, and as a result he's going to stay home on Sunday to try to get one of his many ancient, piece o' crap, nonfunctional VWs to function. And if he doesn't get one running? I don't know. I guess I'll have to have another mini-breakdown.

Anyway. Got mom to the doctor, convinced sis-in-law to stay and keep her company as I really needed some alone time, did my shopping and, on a whim, did something I've never done before and popped into a local liquor store and grabbed a 4-pack of Kahlua Mudslides. It just seemed like something that would be nice to have tonight, even though I'd be violating two rules I've set for myself regarding alcohol, which are to not drink alone and to not drink in my mother's house. But at least I stuck to my two-drink limit, and spaced them out at that, so the only ill-effects I suffered was the near death incident mentioned above. Got back to the doctor, chatted with sis-in-law whilst waiting a really long time for my mommy to finish up, then we all got home just in time for me to do some yoga before Survivor came on. Which I did, and at 7 PM CST settled into my sofa feeling all relaxed and refreshed and turned on my TV to see not Jeff and the castaways but Dubya instead.

Insert long, tired, frustrated sigh here.

I sat through the speech, feeling very sad about the entire situation, and eating frozen pizza (except, cooked). Then my show finally came on. I want to root for the women, I really do. But I just like the guys better. This week, at least. And Heidi needs somebody to slap every last ounce of shit out of her. Had my first Mudslide of the evening while I watched, and after I felt pretty mellow and de-stressed. So I showered and put on my jammies, then I remade my bed with this fancy-schmancy fluffy, foamy mattress pad my mom ordered for us both that arrived today, and now I'm done with my second Mudslide, having spewed a good portion of it all over my computer, and as of now I'm all about chatting and catching up. I'm going to be very disgruntled again if nobody's on AIM to talk to me. And also if I keep glitching like I did last night. But for now I'm feeling pretty good.