"wilma, i'm home...."

For those of you who were following my travel adventures, you know that I'm home now. And man it feels good to be sleeping in my own bed again. Trying my best to get over the jet lag. Was good about staying awake for the right hours, and even though I had few hours of sleep, I've been having a hard time getting decent, restful sleep. Dreams still seem to be of trying to find a way out of Thailand. Nothing worse than feeling in limbo.

But had a full day yesterday to re-acclimate -- laundry, bills, house organization. You know the drill.

Other than looming work deadlines, there are two things that are occupying my thoughts and time right now.

Beaux
While I was gone, Rick had warned me that Beaux wasn't doing so well. He's extremely attached to me, so I figured the separation was hard on him. I think I sometimes forget that he's a 14 year old Lab and has had a longer than normal lifespan. Anyhow, returning home hasn't really seem to bring him around. He's ok in the morning, his appetite is still good, but he's moving really slowly. Hard time getting up the stairs.

Sometimes I think his vision has gone or maybe he just gets confused. He doesn't follow me around like he did before. In the evenings it's worse, he just lays on his bed and doesn't respond to anything. More concerning is that he's now having a ton of accidents in the house. Even when we let him out, he comes right back in an will poop right on the floor. The other morning I woke up to him peeing and pooping in the bedroom.

Rick's also noticed he seems to have more lumps. We'd had them checked out before, but they weren't anything serious. My fear is that he's really sick and isn't going to rebound like I hope. We made an appointment to take him in tonight for a check up. Hopefully he's just depressed and nothing more serious.

Faulty Wiring
While I was in Laos, I got a call from Rick letting me know that the house lights have been flickering, and then earlier this week, something started to smell like it was melting or burning. As you can imagine, I was more than freaked out by the thought of the house burning down while I was gone. The electrician came out today and said it's pretty serious and he needs to get PSE out there tomorrow. A meltdown with my meter. Another $1000 down the drain, at least that what they think. Oh well, what can you do....?

On the bright side, my brother-in-law remodeled the spare bedroom while I was gone. And my powder room and guest bathroom are also complete. All we have left to do is remodel the office, our bedroom and put in hardwoods downstairs....the end is in sight. Hopefully by the end of 2009 I won't have any more remodel projects hanging over my head.