Greetings My Lovelies! Just checking in to let you know that, while still mourning, I am doing relatively well.  The hardest parts are all the moments spent taking care of her everyday needs – food, play, attention, potty breaks etc. All that time adds up but until it’s gone, you don’t realize how much time it is. It’s also about changing habits that are so ingrained when you have animals.

But for me, it’s so much stranger because I haven’t been completely alone, worrying only about my needs for close to 30 years – living with my ex from 1993 -2018 which included five dogs over that same span of time (4 of the 5 have passed and the last is with him). And it feels weird and kind of off putting in many ways. I can come and go as I please without planning around someone else, stay away as long as I like without needing a pet sitter and all sorts of other adventures. And all it feels wrong somehow. 

I guess that’s what happens when you put the needs of everyone else in your house first for 3 decades. The adjustment may take a while.

Welcome to my new normal 🤷🏼‍♀️.

Note: Again, thank you all for the lovely words of condolence. They truly helped when I needed it 😊.

My beloved Reese came home Friday. Unfortunately, Friday night she started having seizures and decompensated overnight. I think she was sicker that any of us realized. So, I made the decisions to end her suffering. We had one last Christmas morning together before I said goodbye to my beautiful girl.

She was loved and she is missed. I am heartbroken.

I thank you all for your good thoughts for her last week and for your coming condolences. I am a person who suffers these things quietly, so please understand if I don’t respond to your comments. I am adjusting to a new normal.

May you all have a peaceful day My Lovelies, xoxo – Me

Hey it’s a palindrome day: 12-22-21. Hoping it brings good luck 🍀, Reese could use it!

Well My Lovelies she is at the vet for the 3^rd night because she still won’t eat. And my vet was off today, leaving me to deal with the covering vet who was of no help, aside from telling me that it could take a week to ten days for her to improve with supportive care. I don’t know if I want her “tortured” that long. I say tortured because she has a catheter and is being given iv fluids, which can’t be fun.

I was ready for my vet to return, and she’s only been gone a day. Bedside manner was not covering vets strong suit!

My vet had mentioned taking her somewhere for an abdominal ultrasound (they don’t do that procedure) but I want to understand the point. My research has uncovered the possibility of a tumor that could be removed and require chemo. I’ve done chemo for another dog in the past and if that turns out to be the case, I don’t want to put her through that. She’s ten, turning eleven in May, so I really have to think everything through very carefully.

I know that is worst case scenario, that it might not be that bad, but I need to be prepared for anything.

Right now my stress level is somewhere between eating my feelings and not eating at all (that’s my super stressor response).

Please keep sending her good vibes and let’s hope for a turnaround tonight.

XOXO – Me

Note: Thanks for all the love sent to Reese. She may be staying another night to fully flush her system, but I will definitely post an update tomorrow 😊.

As you know, I don’t do real recaps. I find fun in the absurdity of some of these reality shows and yes, I have my favorites, although I’m not a crazy fan who thinks they are my friends, and I must defend them to the death ⚔️.

But what I find most fascinating are the poor supporting cast, in this case the servers, who are stuck in the middle of the nonsense of some of these people! And I imagine the conversation they are having with their co-workers out of earshot of the action.

So today, I thought I would talk about the lords work these poor servers are doing at an event for the Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (RHOSLC).

Let me set the scene: HW Jennie Nguyen is bringing the ladies to the Peace Gardens in Jordan Park for a luncheon featuring Vietnamese food so that they can learn about her heritage. Sounds like a fun time, right? I’m always in for an adventure 😁. There are 7 women and I think about 4 or 5 servers to keep things moving (it was a multi-course meal). And you know nothing ever goes wrong at a housewife event, right?

Oh, some important background info – one of the wives attending the event had been arrested (indicted?) on federal fraud charges and was out on bail during the taping of this scene. Look up Jen Shah for more info. I can’t even with her complete denial of any wrongdoing 🤦‍♀️. I don’t think it will end well for her.

Back to the waitstaff. First, I am assuming the caterer had enough sense to let her servers know who the event was for and to remain professional at all times. And kudos to them because when this luncheon devolved into a shit show (as they often do 🙄) they remained cool and impassive while continuing to serve. I was highly impressed with their professionalism 👏👏👏.

Camera’s are up as the guest start to arrive. The servers are carefully placed out of the line of sight until it’s time to serve. And they have to be masked for the entire time, while the HW are not. Poor staff, their shot at being on a nationally televised show and their friends and family can’t tell who they are because of the masks! (This is not an anti-mask statement. It’s about sympathy for the staff whose families won’t be able to tell who they are.)

Anyway, first course is served and so far everyone in behaving themselves (for the time being). With plated dropped in front of each guest, they again fade into the background. Now at some one or more of the servers had to have brought up the topic of Jen Shah’s arrest and I’m sure the gossip is flying in-between courses 😁. I was a server; I know the smack that gets talked about in the kitchen 😆. The plates are cleared, the second course arrives and within 5 minutes a fight starts 🤦‍♀️ (I give them credit it did take two courses before shots were fired). At this point the editing is a confusing because they are all yelling at one another, and the servers are trying to refill drinks and remove any unwanted plates all while trying not to get hit by swinging arms. (Did I mention this was at a Peace Garden? 😁) Then the storm offs start to happen and I’m sure the servers were deer in headlights when this occurred – trying to stay out of line of sight and away from possibly flying objects. I’m also equally sure they thought they would be out of there long before they really ended up leaving because of this situation 😜. I also guessing that the emotion among the staff ranged from laughter at the absurdity of these women and annoyance that they were trapped until they cameras were down, and they all leave. They were literally being held captive by production until the shit show ended. And the NDA’s they had to sign must have been torture until the show aired. I’m hoping one of them will tweet about it, so we get the real scoop 😆😆😆.

Finally, all the people who stormed off return to the table and order is restored. And scene. 

Like I said before, servers (and any extra for that matter) in these shows are doing the lords work every time they have to interact with any of these reality stars while filming (which is frequently). 

I’m not sure if they rest of the luncheon will continue in the next episode, but send some love to the servers stuck in Real Housewives hell, will you?

You know it’s one thing for Fate to give me crap, I can take it (and turn it into an amusing story at that 😁). But now she is messing with my dog and I won’t stand for it!

As you know Reese has been struggling with a pancreatic issue that just won’t go away. We have tried to treat it as noninvasively as possible with no improvement. So tonight, and possible tomorrow night, she will be under the care of her vet in an attempt to solve this ongoing issue. 

I have spent all weekend feeling helpless each time she looks at me with those sweet eyes that say, “I’m not feeling good mom. Can you do something about it?”. Which of course I couldn’t. So it was a no-brainer to let the vet treat her more aggressively. Good thing my Christmas list was relatively light because 💰💰💰.

Therefore, if Fate is listening, she can come at me all she wants. But she can f🤬🤬🤬 right off if she thinks I’m going to let her go after my girl. 

Line in the sand time My Lovelies!

So, if you would all be so kind as to speak healing words over my girl to get her through this crisis, I would be eternally grateful. She may be a crazy lunatic, but she’s my crazy lunatic and I need for this not to take her down.

Tomorrow, I will be back to form (I hope 🤞). As I’ve been missing my not a recap, recap, I thought I would do a humorous take on RHOSLC. If you have ever been a server, I think you will appreciate it 😁.

Love to you all – Me

I’m sorry My Lovelies, I have been trying to push through this holiday season with good cheer and I stopped wallowing, but I’ve reached my limit at the moment.

And it’s not even about the holiday, really. It’s just adding to the stress. I was coping well until this past week, which just pushed me over the edge. 

As you know I’ve been fighting this stupid head/chest cold combo and the chest part won’t let go. Especially in the middle of the night. The random coughing fits are making it impossible to get a good night’s sleep, so I have been non-stop exhausted for days now (last night I didn’t get asleep until 3 am – it’s a wonder I’m awake now 🥱). I bought some cough syrup, but apparently it does nothing without the expectorant. Unfortunately, it was the only one I could find – unless I went in search of an employee to unlock the cabinet with the Mucinex (when did this become a thing?). At 2:15 am, I took some Dayquil, with expectorant and finally fell asleep. And all was well until 10 minutes ago when another fit occurred. Time to try another store for better cough meds.

And that’s only the half of it. Reese, while not throwing up anymore, decided she didn’t like any of the dog food being served 🤦‍♀️. So back to the vet I go Monday to ask for suggestions – they put her back on the anti-nausea meds because “her stomach might still be upset”. Now I am trying to believe the vet knows what they are talking about, but after two days of the meds, she is still not willing to eat. Now I have to take her in for another appointment (I went alone on Monday) and of course they want to do another set of blood work. But here’s the thing – she will eat green beans and a little brown rice. She’s eating, just not the dog food. I decide to forgo the new stomach coating meds and blood work for the moment and put her on a bland diet of chicken (white meat only, of course 🙄), green beans and rice for the next few days, then try to reintroduce her food next week. Fingers crossed this works, because the stress is getting to me. Personally, I think it’s a combo of still not feeling 100% and becoming picky about her food 😒. She is such a Princess 👑!

And that is what is making me feel very un-Christmasy at the moment. Hopefully I will rally before the gift giving. Having a young nephew around is sure to chase away some of this bah-humbug mood. If that doesn’t work, I’m crawling into bed until next year. It’s gotta get better then, right? 😆😆😆

Rant over – tomorrow I will put on my big girl pants and start again. And it will be better, I hope. Thanks for listening to my gripes 😊.

Note: I don’t care what MS Word says, Christmasy is a word damn it! 😁

Hello My Lovelies 😊! How are you holding up this holiday season? Have you lost your minds yet from all the craziness that comes this time of year? 

I myself had my first moment of holiday irritation this past weekend while out running errands. The traffic was a lot (for my little town that is) and as I made a left hand turn in the outer left lane of a double left, and the guy in the inner lane cuts me off so that he can turn into the plaza on my left. Now mind you the plaza has at least three entrances from this road, but this jackhole had to turn in the first driveway, nearly causing me to hit him. And I thought, probably a stupid holiday shopper 😠.  People seem to get worse this time of year when it comes to common driving courtesy. I need to retire rich enough to just hire a full-time driver 😜.

On a side note, I was surprised no one called me out for rattling of the 7 men of Hallmark Christmas movies (I should have shot for 12 – I’m sure I could have done it 🤣). Yep, those came off the top of my head, no googling required 😊. So let me just say what you are all thinking – you watch too much Hallmark this time of year. And I regret nothing 😁

Now if that didn’t give you a small laugh, maybe this next musing will. Have you ever read something or heard something and completely misinterpreted what you saw/heard? For example, when I lived in Vegas, there was casino ad that I swear stated it had the “loosest sluts” in town and I remember thinking well that’s direct 😆😆. Obviously, it was slots, but if you were just listening to the ad, it sounded like sluts. Well, I had a small Christmas related incident of a similar nature. I was flipping through the DISH guide when I saw a show called “Mistletoe and Molly” and I thought what kind of f’ed up druggie Christmas show is that about? Now in my defense I was exhausted and prone to illogical thinking. But what makes it even worse (and funnier I think) is it was a movie on the Up Channel which is Christian based. Lord the way my brain works at times 🤦‍♀️🤪.

To close out today’s post, a little reminder of what the season is really about. I got this off of FB and I hope you will take its meaning to heart 💜:

A man walks into a donut shop. He buys a donut. The clerk says, “Merry Christmas.” The man replies, “Thank you, same to you!” He then goes to a coffee shop and buys a fancy coffee drink. The clerk says, “Happy Hannukah!” The man replies, “Thank you, same to you!” Sipping his coffee, he stops at the corner and buys a newspaper. The clerk says, “Happy Ramadan!” The man replies, “Thank you, same to you!” He hails a cab for the ride home. The cabbie says, “Happy Kwanza!” The man replies, “Thank you, same to you!” Finally, he passes a tall gaunt gentleman with unkempt hair carrying a box of mansierres (I don’t know if this is the right word, but it was in the post 🤷🏼‍♀️). The gentleman greets him with a cheery, “Happy festivus! For the rest of us!” To which the man replies…….yes you guessed it. “Thank you. Same to YOU!”

So you see…. there is a proper response to the wishing of glad tidings or happiness from anyone. It is, “Thank you…. same to you!” Don’t deny anyone from wishing you happiness in the best way they know how or judge their “season.” I won’t. Haven’t you been reading about all the hate in this world? Don’t share it…DO IT.

Frank Sineni, November 2015

With that I say Joyeux Ramadan, Feliz Kwanza, Joyous Navidad, Happy Christmas and Merry Hannukah to you all.