Close to Home

 I created this blog 21 years ago - this month.  Hard to believe it's been that long ago.  If it were a person, it could walk into a bar and order a drink in all states!  

Anyway, in those 21 years I've rarely posted about politics.  I believe I've only posted about them twice.  Once when a republican was running for office in Texas and his only platform to run on was that his opponent wrote romance novels, which he called porn.  He said it made her a sexual deviant and unfit for office.  I believe it was a midterm election and may have been the first midterm election I ever voted in.  She beat him, by the way!  The other time was in 2024 when I explained why I was voting the way I was, even though the person on the ticket wasn't in my top 10 of who I wanted to see as president.  Aside from those two instances, I don't think I've talked politics here.

I also don't think I've ever talked about any serious illnesses I was dealing with because I was always focused on getting through them and didn't want it to impact how anyone treated me.

But, today, I'm going to discuss both of those things here, for a reason.

In December 2013 I went in for a routine mammogram.  It came back abnormal and so I had to go back for an ultrasound, followed by a biopsy, which resulted in me getting told in early January 2014 that I had breast cancer.  There are very vivid memories from the day I was told that resonate to this day.  The fear.  The shock.  The disbelief.  Not necessarily in that order.  But, that's not really what this post is about.

I don't remember the specifics about when I was told what kind of cancer it was and what it meant.  I was diagnosed with HER2 positive breast cancer.  I also don't remember how I learned more about it because I do know that there was a point early on where I decided that anything I learned would come from my oncologist.  I may have done some internet searching before I came to that decision but I know that throughout my actual treatment, I refused to look up anything online.  So I don't know if what I came to know about it came from a quick search before I decided the internet was to dangerous for me at that time, from my oncologist or searches after treatment.  But, essentially, HER2 positive cancer is a very aggressive cancer.  I was diagnosed at stage 1A but was treated the same as if I was diagnosed as stage 4.  The only difference was that I had an end date for treatment and stage 4 patients do not.  There was a time when someone coming in at my stage would be told to get their affairs in order because it was very hit and miss if chemo helped with it and the odds favored the patient dying rather than beating it.

I asked the hospital where I was being treated to pair me with someone who had gone through the treatment plan they had me going through because I really needed to talk to someone who could fully understand what I was going through and it truly helped.  She told me about an online support group for HER2 positive patients that she said helped her.  More on that in a minute.  I don't think I ever went there until after my treatment had ended - again because of the online fear factor thing.

One of the drugs used to treat HER2 positive cancer is herceptin.  My insurance was charged $13,000 for each infusion of it and I got it every three weeks for a year - it's not cheap.

The person I had been partnered with had been diagnosed at stage 3.  She was considered a dead woman walking when she was diagnosed.  Dr. Dennis J Slamon had worked for years on herceptin and had to fight tooth and nail to get funding for his research.  (There is a movie about it called Living Proof starring Harry Connick Jr.)  It became a game changer in treating HER2 positive cancers.  The person I had been partnered with got treated with it because they figured that since was dying anyway, they had nothing to lose in letting her get the treatment.  It was considered an experimental drug at the time and only available to stage 3 or stage 4 patients.  But, as she went through treatment, scans proved that it was dissolving her tumors.  At the time we were paired together, it had been about five years since she'd been treated and she was still cancer free.

Just the few years later that I was diagnosed, herceptin was standard of care for all HER2 positive cancer patients.  I didn't have to go through a trial or let them give me an experimental drug - it was tried and true by that point.  And for that, I am grateful.

Now back to the online support group.  Once I was done with treatment, I started spending a LOT of time on the message board, reading people's stories and commenting on new comers.  After a while, I felt like an old timer and grateful to be able to share with others who might be coming in scared, like I had.

But then, notices started coming in about people who had been on the board for forever that were having recurrences or dying, years and even decades after they had been living with no evidence of disease.  It was scary and I decided that for my own peace of mind, I had to stop frequenting the message board and just be grateful that I was healthy-ish.

There were several people on the board that I became close to and we kept in touch, sometimes through the board and sometimes through personal emails.

There was this one woman that we were communicating via the private message system on the board.  She was a later stage and was experiencing severe side effects from the treatments she was getting.  Herceptin wasn't enough and she was one going into trials and getting experimental drugs.  I hadn't heard from her in a while and feared the worst.  I didn't know how to get in touch with her outside of the message board so there wasn't a lot I could do.

Then, a couple of days ago, out of the blue, I was notified that she had sent me a private message.  She said she hadn't been on the board for years but that she had gone for a clinical trial of a new drug hoping to target HER2 positive cancers and that she had been off the drug for three years now and that she was no longer having symptoms, her cancer was stable (not gone apparently but stable is good!) and she was doing well enough that she had even been able to return to work part-time.  I was so excited to hear all that and to know she was doing well, or at least definitely better than before.

But then I got pissed.  And this is where the politics come into my post.  I probably wouldn't be alive today if not for the work of Dr. Slamon.  The woman I had been partnered with wouldn't have survived to be partnered with me without his work.  The woman that sent me the message the other day wouldn't have a decent quality of life today if not for the work of other medical professionals trying to find cures for cancer.  Yet, we have someone sitting in the White House that feels that funding research for deadly diseases is a waste of money.  He can find money for illegal ballrooms and to put his name on everything he can think of and to pay insurrectionists for their work on January 6, 2021, but finding cures for deadly diseases is a waste of  money to him and it makes me angry.  This one hits close to home too.  There's always a chance my cancer will come back and I haven't reached the point - even almost 13 years later - where I take my cancer free status for granted.  And if it comes back, will I miss out on a groundbreaking drug that would ensure it would  never come back because of who is in the White House, because he cares about no one but himself?

I've read articles about people who supported Trump and championed his policies - until they affected them personally.  An example is Milo Yiannopoulos who supported Trump and was all for deporting people - until he got deported himself.  Now he's "ashamed" of his past support for Trump.

I've never supported Trump - ever - and I will never understand anyone who does.  I voice my complaints but don't really do anything about it.  And now I'm looking at something that could have a direct impact on me and I'm mad.  And motivated.

Right now, all we have is our voice and our vote.  I've been struggling getting registered to vote back in Texas because I haven't updated my license since I moved back.  The changes Trump has made in government, you have to have appointments to go anywhere and it's hard, if not impossible, to get through to them via phone or email to set that appointment up.  It wasn't this hard where I was living but here, it's been challenging.  I had been thinking I would have to sit this election out but one message from someone I was afraid we had lost got that fire going again.  We have to vote to put a stop to Trump's agenda - that only benefits himself, not every day Americans - and get some oversight back in congress.  It can't happen soon enough!

Excuse me

 I just got home from the grocery store.  We're supposed to be getting storms coming through today for almost a week and while there really isn't much that I need, there were a few things that I wanted.  I was going to place an order and have it delivered, since I pay for that service but the earliest window available (without paying extra for the delivery) comes about the time that the storms are expected to start through here.  It's been raining already today and it was foggy out so I didn't want to go out but I figured it was the best opportunity I was going to get to get a few things I wanted.

That's the backstory as to why I was out.

To add to that, in the last five years or so, I've become that old lady that wears t-shirts ALL THE TIME.  I find one that has a cute saying on it and I buy it.  Sadly, not all of them hold up well - the words seem to fade quickly.  But I digress.  A few days ago I was reading a book and someone in the story saw another person with a t-shirt that said "Exercise?  I thought you said Extra Fries!"  I immediately stopped reading and went over to amazon to see if such a shirt existed.  It does and I ordered it.  One with a cute sloth on it, clutching fries.

So, I am debuting that shirt today and didn't think a lot about it when I wore it to the store.

I go to check out and after the woman rings me up and I'm waiting for approval on my credit card, she says "open your shirt."  I was like "What?!?!?!"  She said, pointing at my shirt, "Open your shirt!"  I'm so stunned that it doesn't even register that a t-shirt doesn't "open" and so I just say "what?!?!?!" again.  So she says, "I wanna see your shirt" and that's when it dawns on me, she can't see the whole thing and not asking me to strip in the middle of Walmart!

She called someone over and we all got a laugh out of the shirt (not how she asked to see it) but it was . . . interesting.

Happy Thursday!

Making Life Easier

 Last year I read a book that talked about how you can make things easier on yourself when you're feeling overwhelmed.  Things like telling yourself that you're deprioritizing something (say laundry) today.  Or having the one use toothbrushes (ready with toothpaste on them) on your bedside table if you were so exhausted you'd crawled into bed without brushing your teeth.  And dry shampoo.  Things like that.

One of the tips that I particularly liked was making your bed in what amounts to layers.  The idea is to have your bed made with several layers of sheets - flat and fitted - so that instead of having to do laundry all the time, you can just pull off a layer of bedsheets and be ready to go and not even have to make the bed again.

With that in mind, I ordered a mattress pad and some "travel" bedsheets to put in between each layer of bedsheets.  It's been working great!  I love it!

Well, then a few days ago, I went to strip the bed of a layer of bedsheets.  I pulled up the comforter and made the bed all nice and everything.  I was a happy camper!

Until I went to bed.  Long story short, in my zeal to strip the bed, I apparently took off the flat sheet of the next level because when I crawled into bed, there was no flat sheet - just the fitted sheet.  Another long story short, I've only been using the comforter to cover up in bed the last few days because I "deprioritized" pulling the flat sheet back out and putting it back on the bed.

Funny how that works, isn't it?  😜

Royal Dream

 Last night I dreamed that the royal family was visiting.  I take that back, it was the royal men visiting.  Kate had remained in England for the visit.  At least initially.

Next thing I know, Kate is in the states and coming to me trying to find William.  I start digging through my notes to see how he can be reached but I can't find them.  She's getting very anxious because she desperately needs to reach him - which is why she came to the states, after all.

I spend all this time trying to track him down and eventually we do and I overhear what she tells him.  I don't recall now what it was she said to him but I remember thinking it was something she could've waited until he got home to relay to him.  It didn't warrant traveling to another country to track him down to tell him.

Anyway, after she found him, she started making appearances herself - since she was here and all.  And she left their baby with me.  Yes, she'd just had a new baby a few months ago (at least in the dream).

So, I was doting on the baby.  I think the baby may have spit up on itself or something because I decided I needed to give the baby a bath.  I was doing so in the sink.  The baby had on a bracelet and was wearing earrings.  The bracelet came off and went down the drain.  Then both of the earrings did as well.  I was very upset and terrified how I was going to tell the princess.

I asked the advice of several people, who didn't want to be involved in anyway and let me on my own.

When the princess came back, feeling sick to my stomach, I managed to get out that the baby's bracelet had washed down the drain.  She looked confused because she wasn't aware of any bracelet the baby had on.  I mentioned that it resembled a string one might tie around their finger to remind them of something (even though the baby wasn't old enough to be able to need to remember anything).  She acknowledged that and seemed unconcerned.

I told her that there was more and then told her about the earrings.  She was also unconcerned about them as well, which was a great relief.

Then she went back to signing things for fans.  Someone came back to me and handed me a signed bookmark that she had signed for me (because she knew I love to read).  The person that brought it to me said it said something along the lines of she hated me and wanted nothing to do with me.  But in reality, it thanked me for helping her out in a time of stress and said she'd be forever grateful to me.

She walked over to me and I thanked her and she hugged me.

That's all I remember about it.  Weird dream but made her seem as kind and down to earth as she appears otherwise.  😀

A Call From the Doctor

So, a short while ago my phone rang.  It's earlier than I like to get calls in the morning but I didn't even notice that part of it when the call came in.  I just thought about how it was interrupting what I was doing - which was packing.

I see the caller ID and I suspect it's the doctor's office, but I answer it anyway.

They start the call by saying who they are and who they are with.  Then they say they are looking for me.  I let them know they reached me and then they did something that did not sit well with me - at all.  They asked me to prove it was me!

I said, "You called me!"  As I was hanging up the phone (I wasn't in the mood to deal with people who call me and expect me to prove it's me!), I heard them saying something which I assume was them explaining why I would have to prove my identity to someone that called me.  It was several minutes before they tried calling me again, and I chose that time to not pick up at all.  They haven't tried again.

Here's the thing though, anyone who would be at my house and picking up my phone would be able to answer the questions the caller would ask.  Not to mention, identifying what they're calling about before saying who they are calling, defeats the purpose of having the person prove who they are because the "privacy" issue has already been breached.  It's ridiculous.

Having said all that, I think they want to move a follow up appointment I have scheduled for a few weeks from now.  It's been on the calendar for six months and they called a few weeks ago to move it but only offered one date and time, which I couldn't do.  I mean, if the doctor has a conflict, that doesn't change, just because the patient can't move to a specific date and time - and my appointment hasn't changed.

Anyway, the whole thing annoyed me because who calls someone and then demands they prove they are who they say they are?  How do I know the caller is who they say they are?

I'm wondering, has anyone else ever experienced this before and, if so, how did you handle it? 

I Love My Dogs!

 Well, first of all, in 2024 I only posted on blog post in the whole year.  I was so proud of myself for upping my game last year but it would appear it's almost been ten months since my last post!  Guess I didn't keep up with that!  Anyway . . . 

So, in my living room I have a basket (I think it was intended as a magazine rack at one time) where I keep all the dogs' toys.  I will put them up and then all of a sudden the floor will be covered with them.  I'll even find some in my bed!  But I rarely see how that happens.  It's like they just appear out of nowhere.

Yesterday I pulled out a toy to play with Oreo with while Benji was sunning in the front yard (he wasn't interested in coming into the house - at all!).  Oreo was interested in the attention, but not the toy.  So I kind of tossed it aside, not putting it in the box.

Well, just a short while ago, Benji came into the living room and looked at the random toy that wasn't in the basket, turned his nose at it and then went to the basket.

He pulled out what looked like two toys at once and was sniffing them and seriously had a look on his face like they smelled and he wasn't interested in them.  That got my attention and when I looked over, he looked at me like he wanted to play before he went back over towards the toys he pulled out and the basket.

I heard him playing with a toy and realized it wasn't any of the toys that had already "escaped" the basket, meaning he had gone in for more.

I kind of laughed and he looked up at me again and next thing I knew, he had gone into the other room.

Meanwhile, the original toy that he disregarded is now on the other side of the room and I see several other toys out that weren't previously out and not the one he had been playing with.

I'm willing to bet that the next time I go into the bedroom that there will be a toy in there as well.

So, I have some toys to pick up but I'm smiling as I write that because I love my dogs and sometimes they're just so funny.  😁

What Day is it?

 It's not even 1:30 in the afternoon yet and I've already had to remind myself that today is Friday - NOT Saturday more than a few times.  I don't know why my brain is stuck on thinking it's Saturday but it's already driving me a little nuts.

I went to the grocery store around 9:00, which is later than I like to go because of the crowds (I'm not a big shopper and these days I usually do curbside for groceries but I decided to go in today and do my own shopping), but I figured it wouldn't be too bad - even on a Saturday.  Then I remembered it's NOT Saturday and figured it really wouldn't be bad at the store because most people would be working at 9:00 a.m. and not shopping, right?

Well, even though it's NOT Saturday, the store was packed!  I bought a lot of stuff I didn't need (another reason why curbside is such a good option!).  I made it out alive though so I take that as a win.

Anyway, I keep looking to see what's on TV and getting surprised that certain shows are on on a Saturday before I remember it's NOT Saturday!

Then I mentally made a list of things I need to do next week when things are open before I realize, I can do those things TODAY because today is Friday, NOT Saturday.

Seriously, I cannot believe I have such a brain freeze where today is concerned.  It makes me wonder what day I will think tomorrow is and what the holiday on Monday will do related to what day I think it is.

But for now, I just have to remember that today is NOT Saturday!

The Vet's Office

 I was just looking at my last couple of posts and realized they were about vet visits for my dogs.  The last one seemed like there was basically a happy ending to it but turns out that wasn't the case.

Two days after I started giving Oreo the antibiotic prescribed (that I rightfully predicted I would have to force feed him), I took the dogs to the park to walk them and as soon as we got out of the car, Oreo started throwing up.  Not a lot but in hindsight, I should've been concerned about the color of it, but that's beside the point now.

I called the vet's office when I got home from the park and told them Oreo had thrown up and they said it was likely because of the antibiotic he was on and told me to cut back his dosage (from twice a day to once a day).  We got up the next morning and before I could give him any medication, he threw up again.  I decided then that I wouldn't be giving him any more of the medication.  I meant to call the vet to let them know and see if there was something else I could give him but I never called them.

Two days after that, we were at the park again and about halfway through our walk (we were walking about an hour a day when we'd go there), Oreo stopped and didn't want to continue.  It was very unlike him.  When he did finally start moving again he stopped to poop - and it was diarrhea and it was bloody.  I got the dogs to the car as quickly as I could and took them straight to the vet's office.

I was told they didn't have any openings for that day but they suggested I could leave Oreo with them and the vet could examine him between visits, so I did that.

I got a call about an hour and a half later (way before I expected to hear from them) saying that Oreo would be spending the night with them.  They said he had hemorrhagic gastroenteritis.   He needed fluids, vitamins and who knows what all else.  They had to hook him up to an IV drip.  I got told that if he survived the first 24 hours, he should be okay.  My fear level - on a scale of 1-10 - was at about a thousand!  He had been throwing up on Monday and on Thursday he had bloody diarrhea!

Well, he survived the night and they let me bring him home.  I was told to discontinue our hour long walks until he "recovered" from this - and then they didn't say how long it would take to recover.

Two weeks later I took both dogs in for their annual check ups and shots.  I had them run full blood panels on both dogs, something I would've done whether or not Oreo had gone through this ordeal or not but I wasn't going to leave without the tests because of the ordeal!

Benji's results were perfect.  Oreo's looked almost identical to what they were when he had to spend a night at the vet's office.  Yet they said he was fine and we could continue our hour long walks again.  I pointed out the numbers on the lab tests and they said "oh that's just because of what he went through two weeks ago".  Um, didn't he spend the night there for that?  If the treatment didn't completely fix it to where two weeks later you can't tell he had anything done, what was the point of him staying overnight?  I don't know what to think at this point.

That all said, Oreo seems fine.   I still haven't resumed our hour long walks (we were doing 30 minutes when we were on the "break" and that's still what we're doing - usually multiple times a day, just not all at once, like before) and I've been watching him like a hawk.  I worry about my furbabies because they can't tell us what feels bad or hurts and they don't always show it until it's late in the case.  I feel I need to take him back for more lab work (possibly at another vet) just to see how he's doing.  Not to mention, if his labs weren't going to be any better two weeks later, I think they should've mentioned that before I had them run (probably would've anyway but at least it wouldn't be such a shock to see the results).

I did recently buy them some toys that have some funny stories attached to them (at least in my opinion) but I'll save those for another post.  😀

Another Vet Visit

I called my vet nearly three weeks ago to schedule an appointment for my dog, Benji.  I take him every two months to get shots for his allergies.  When I called I was told the vet was out for the week (I assume spring break) and it was scheduled for late the next week.

Well, that next week was the week all the storms were coming through.  We were in the area where severe storms and tornadoes were expected.  We were fortunate in that we ended up being on the bubble - just outside where all the tornadoes actually hit, but that wasn't a given and we were playing it by ear all week.  So, when my appointment date arrived, I called and asked to reschedule it.  I also added an appointment for Oreo because he had been licking his foot for a week at that point.  He tends to get grass seeds stuck between his toes and the vet has to fish them out and I wanted him to look at his foot to see if that was the issue - and if so, treat it as necessary.

Today was the first appointment they had available, so I took it.  By this morning though, Oreo had stopped licking his foot for at least a few days and I assumed it had resolved itself.  But, given the appointment time, I wasn't sure the receptionist had booked a time for both dogs.

When we got to the vet's office and were called back, the vet tech had Oreo get on the table and took his temperature.  I thought it was a little odd but didn't say anything.  The vet tech went to leave the room and stopped himself and said he probably should do a fecal test.  I asked why he was doing a fecal test and his response was "it's probably his anal glands".  I asked what he thought Oreo was there for (as he took the fecal matter) and he repeated that it was probably just his anal glands.

I responded that Oreo was there because of a hurt foot (not sure why I worded it that way, but it is what I said).  He said he'd have to go check the record to see what it said.

Turns out, when I told the receptionist that he was licking his foot again, she noted that he had a leaky butt!  I guess I can see how that mistake could be made and it all worked out in the end (no pun intended!).

The vet looked at his foot and he could see the place he had been licking and assumed the grass seed (which was the diagnosis) had already worked itself out but he had an abscess there that was ready to pop so he popped it, gave him a shot and sent me home with antibiotics that I will have to force feed Oreo.

Benji also got his shot and cried out in pain - worse than he has in the past and pulled away so not all of it went into him.  It looked like a good amount was left but the vet tech said it was a small amount and didn't matter.  So, hopefully it will be okay.  Benji immediately forgave the vet tech for hurting him but Oreo . . . he's not as forgiving.  😉

Vet Visit

 I want to preface this by saying, I'm told both dogs will be fine.

That said, I got home just a short while ago from the vet's office.  I took two dogs in and came home with only one of them

Last week I had taken Benji in to get his allergy (steroid) shot.  While at the vet's office then, I scheduled a full blood work up on both dogs for today.  I used to take Harley in every three to four months for full blood work ups, urinalysis and fecal tests because he was on daily pills that contained small amounts of steroids for his allergies and I wanted to be sure all was okay with him (because I hadn't been doing that and his liver enzymes shot through the roof and several other "allergy" treatments were not good options for him, so I tracked him regularly so it didn't get to the point it had that one time).

When I scheduled it, I got grilled about why I wanted to do it.  I was told their shots were do in June or July and didn't I just want to wait until then to do the tests?  I said no, I didn't want to wait and said that Oreo, while not acting like he was sick particularly, did seem more needy and was seeming to be having some bladder control issues and I just wanted to be sure he was okay.  I mentioned I also wanted fecal tests and urinalysis - if we could get it.  I said the urinalysis specifically on Oreo but I meant everything else for both dogs.  And said I wanted Benji tested because of the steroids.

So, I get there and they take Oreo's temperature (it was normal) and did a fecal on him - they didn't do either on Benji.  The vet comes in and examines Oreo (although not like a wellness exam like I had intended, but like one that they were checking his kidneys out, since I wanted to be sure that was all okay) - again, they didn't do this to Benji.

The vet drew the blood out of Oreo's neck and tried to get a urine sample directly from his bladder / kidney but came up empty.  He took Benji's blood from his leg.  And then I had to wait for the results.

A few minutes later the vet tech came in and said we were going to walk Oreo to try to collect a urine sample.  I went out with Benji too.  Long story short, Benji peed twice (even though he'd peed when we arrived) and pooped - Oreo did nothing.  So I was put back into the room to wait again.

Fortunately I had taken my tablet with me so that I could read because I know it takes time to get the results back and they usually will see another patient before they come back.  But the vet tech comes back and tells me that Benji - not Oreo - has an infection, based on his lab work.  Oreo is a bit dehydrated but it doesn't seem to be a big deal and they say he doesn't need to be given fluids when I specifically ask about it when the vet comes back into the room to insert a catheter into Oreo to get a urine sample that way.

And again, I wait.  When the vet tech came in that time he said "we're going to keep Oreo today".

What?????  I asked some questions and those few minutes are a bit of a fog to me but, as it turns out, the urinalysis (thank goodness they got that!) showed that not only was he dehydrated but that he had the beginnings of a UTI!  So those fluids I'd asked about and they said he didn't need were suddenly important for him to get!  I didn't fully understand how he's getting the fluids (IV I think he said?) rather than the way other vets have done it where you can essentially see where the fluids are and they go home with you.  They said I can pick him up around 3:00 or 3:30.

Oreo did NOT want to stay!  He crawled under the chair and wouldn't come out.  Poor guy!

Anyway, so I asked if I paid the full thing then or for part of it now and part when I picked up Oreo and was told I could pay the full thing when I picked up Oreo.

So I left and decided to take Benji to the park and walk him, right?  It had been the plan to take them both to the park and walk them after the visit but, well, it didn't work out that way.  I take my fanny pack to the park to keep my keys, ID and phone with me so I went to pull it out of what I call my "doctor's bag" that I take to office visits and has my tablet and stuff in it.  Turns out, I hadn't taken it with me!  Benji was so antsy  before we left (with excitement because he knows when I transfer stuff into my fanny pack that we're going to the park!) and because I took my tablet, I totally forgot my fanny pack with my ID, phone and checkbook (because they charge more if you pay by credit card).  I couldn't have paid them then if I had wanted to.  Oh, and my ID wasn't in my wallet either, plus I'd run out without my glasses (which is a driving restriction on my license)!

Anyway, I'm told both dogs will be okay.  I was sent home with antibiotics for Benji and I don't know if I will get any for Oreo but he's having to endure being at the vet for several hours (poor boy!). 

I had hoped it would be a visit where the vet thinks I'm nuts for running all these tests on my dogs but that I get some peace of mine but, as it turns out, I NEEDED to take them so I'm so glad I did!  But it's made for an exhausting day already!

Book Review

 Last night I started a new book:  The Patient's Secret by Loreth Anne White.  I'm not 100% certain how I came to have this ebook but, given the email trail I have, I think in December after I "purchased" one of Amazon's First book picks, I was offered another book from a selection of books.  This book has 30k+ reviews on amazon and 4.5 stars.  On goodreads (as noted on amazon) it has over 53k reviews and 4.3 stars.  To me, when you have that many reviews and that high a rating, it's worth taking a look at.  And I think that's how I came to have it, but I'm not certain.

Anyway, last night, around midnight or so, I had a distraction occur that took some time or I would've finished the book last night.  I only had 30 minutes or so left in the book when I finally decided I had to go to sleep around 2:00 in the morning.  First thing when I got up, I finished the book.  It was one I didn't want to put down.  And here's the thing, I was already reading another book (which I think was the December book I'd picked that effectively got me this one).  That book I had no problem putting down - at all.  I was reading it yesterday and realized I didn't care about any of the characters and I didn't care if they reached their goals or if anyone fell in love.  I also didn't care if I never finished it.  So I set it aside for The Patient's Secret.

The story is about a woman who falls off a cliff at a beach and dies after a struggle on the cliff.  That happens in a prologue (I started a book this morning and it's the third book in a row that I've read that has a prologue - is that a requirement now?  ;) ).  From that point, the story is told in alternating points of view (third person, although I felt there was some head hopping), going back and forth in time to before the event that left the woman dead and how it's being processed in real time.  During the telling of the story, you learn that a lot of people had a reason to want the woman dead or at least out of their lives.

And everyone had secrets.  I felt like the story was showing how as much as you might think you know someone - even if you're married to them for years and years - you don't know everything about them.

The story was based on a nugget of truth.  In Canada (where the book is also based), if a minor commits a crime - no matter how awful of a crime - they cannot be sentenced to more than ten years incarceration.  They can also have their records expunged after a few years after they are released from prison.  

This book fictionalizes a real event that occurred in Canada.  The Preface of the book says that the inspiration for the fictional book is a real crime but that what is spun around it is purely fictional.

It was a really good book.  As I said, I didn't want to put it down.  However, that all said, I did have a bit of an issue with the behavior of an eight year old in the book.  I'll just say, the author had him behaving like someone who was much older.  It was hard to suspend disbelief to believe he was doing - and thinking - the things he was doing - and thinking.  But other than that - very good book.  I highly recommend it and thank whatever it was that pointed me into getting (and ultimately reading, because I do have a LOT to choose from!) this book!

Things That Go Bump in the Night

 The other day I started reading a book.  In the first chapter (a prologue I think) someone is killed at their beach house.  It's presented in a way that makes it sound like it's very secluded (although, later in the book someone breaks into the house and doesn't want to turn on the lights because the neighbors will see them).

For those of you that know me, I may have mentioned that the house I currently live in is very secluded.  You can't see it from the road and there are no neighbors that can see the house (or hear me if I were to scream).

That's a picture of my "driveway" above.  A pizza delivery guy once called me and asked me for directions to my house from the spot where this was taken.  I told him to just follow it and that my house was the only thing at the end of that "drive / road".

Anyway, so I was reading this book that killed off a character in the opening pages of the book.  Then, a few nights later - for the first time in the three years that I've lived here - I heard something just outside of the fence that sounded like a human walking in the woods.  It was around 3 in the morning (Oreo wanted out) and it freaked me out.  Oreo growled and it stopped.  Then it started moving again.  That happened a couple of times and I fought the urge to call out because I wasn't in a position to defend myself.  I felt it better to hope that they would just move on if I didn't acknowledge them.

This happened several nights in a row at different areas of the property - just outside of the fence each time.  I've heard animals move around in the woods around my house but nothing has ever sounded like this before.  Despite that, I worked hard to convince myself that it was some kind of animal.

Then, a couple of  nights ago I took Oreo out and he was moving around in front of the house where there is a pile up of leaves and it sounded like what I'd heard around the property.  I felt such relief because now I could tell myself - and believe it could be true - that it was an animal I had been hearing, even though I've never heard that in the three years I've lived here.

Well, earlier today I went out with the dogs.  Near the area where I first heard sounds outside of the fence, there was what looked like a large gatorade bottle on the ground!  I suppose it's possible that it could've been littered somewhere else and the weather blew it near my house.  Or even an animal could've brought it there, chewing on it or playing with it like a toy.  But, given the rest of the circumstances that have been present this past week, I'm not as convinced (again) that it was an animal.

I love the privacy I have because of the seclusion of the house but, in times like this, living on top of each other has its benefits too!

Just saying!

Why I voted for Kamala Harris

I cast my first vote in Arkansas yesterday and I cast it for Kamala Harris.

It really wasn’t a vote for Kamala as much as it was a vote against Donald Trump.  If I’m really going to be honest here, if I were to make a list of people I would like to serve in the White House, Kamala probably wouldn’t make the top ten on my list.  So why am I voting for her instead of Trump?  Well, let me tell you.

I’ll start by putting aside the fact that he’s a convicted felon.  I’ll follow that by ignoring the fact that he doesn’t qualify for security clearance and wouldn’t get it if he ran for any other office except for the presidency.  I’ll even set aside, and put in the corner, the fact that he’s been found liable for sexual assault and fraud, and bankrupted a number of companies (including a casino!) and stole from a charity that was advertised as being for children with cancer.  I’m just going to pretend none of those facts exist in my decision not to vote for Trump.  Also in the corner, not being considered here, is the fact that he has stated that he will be a dictator on day one (I know he said it would only be for one day but anyone that has been paying attention knows it won’t end on day one!) or that he intends to do away with the constitution, or at least parts of it that don’t serve his selfish purposes.  Nor am I considering that he believes he is immune from any accountability for any crimes he’s ever committed, regardless if it was before, during or after his presidency.  His obvious cognitive decline?  Not in consideration here either.  Also off limits in this decision is the fact that Trump benefitted financially from his time in office – at taxpayer expense.

What else is there to consider you might ask.  Well let me tell you.

During the debate between Trump and Harris, Trump was asked a question and he went off topic and started yelling about Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, saying they were stealing and eating the pets of American citizens.  He was told that the City Manager had been contacted and told ABC reporters that there was no credible evidence to support those allegations.  Trump’s response was that that was probably a nice thing for the City Manager to say but that he had seen reports of it on television.  The moderator again pointed out that there was no credible evidence to support those claims and said he wasn’t basing it on something shown on television but by officials in the city.

Since then, the Mayor of Springfield and the governor of the state have also publicly stated that the claims are unfounded.

Also since then, Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance, admitted that he “created” the story to get the media talking about the issue of immigration.  He’s also said that whether or not it’s true isn’t important, even though the claims resulted in bomb threats being made in Springfield and schools and businesses had to be evacuated as a result.  Neither Trump nor Vance has apologized for their deliberate false claims about Haitians in Springfield, who, by the way, are there legally.  Instead, Trump has vowed to revoke their protected status and deport them, if he gets re-elected and continues to say they are eating people’s pets.

When Trump was in office, he lied to the American people about covid and it cost hundreds of thousands of American lives unnecessarily.  He knew it was serious but he deliberately downplayed it because he thought it would be bad for him politically.  At one point he suggested injecting or drinking bleach could kill the virus.  When he was called out on it, he said he was “joking” and trying to get a rise out of the media.  One of his former aides said that Trump downplayed the benefits of wearing a mask because one time when he wore a mask, his orange makeup came off on the mask and he didn’t want the public to see that so he demonized the wearing of masks from that point forward.  He actively put American lives in jeopardy for vanity and political reasons having nothing to do with what was in the best interests of the American people.

Something else he did while in office related to the pandemic is he had dismantled the team Obama put together to help combat a potential future pandemic after ebola hit while Obama was in office.  He also withheld aid from states that he felt weren’t sufficiently “grateful” to him.  I remember one state ordering masks from another country.  They had made the White House aware of it and Kushner intercepted the delivery – even though the state had paid for it – and then tried to sell the supplies back to the state again.  Another state ordered supplies but didn’t tell the White House – Trump called them ungrateful and disgraceful for having done that, despite what Trump had previously done to other states.

But the bottom line here is that facts matter.  Trump lied to Americans during covid because he thought the truth would hurt him politically and American citizens died because of his lies.  He was embarrassed by his ridiculous claim about injecting bleach so he said he was joking.  Do Americans really want / need a president who would “joke” about something so serious?  No!  We need someone who will take such things seriously and who will listen to the experts and be willing to admit when they’ve made a mistake.

He also spreads lies that he thinks will help him politically – like saying Haitians are eating people’s pets and saying it’s true because he saw it on television.  Shouldn’t an American president be willing to get at the truth of things before stating things as facts?  Shouldn’t they take the word of a City Manager, a City Mayor and a state governor over something he sees on television?  Do we really want a president who will just state things that are false when he makes clear he doesn’t have – and is not interested in having – all the facts?  Or a president who withholds the truth – at the American public’s expense – because he thinks the truth will hurt him politically?  America needs a leader who is willing to admit they are wrong and are willing to lose their “job” because they’ve done the right thing – not someone who is only self serving and wants to hold office to line his own pockets at taxpayer expense.

So, that’s why I voted for Kamala Harris, even though she isn’t in my top ten of choices of people I would want to hold the office of the President of the United States.  And, for what it’s worth, I feel it’s worth noting that even though Kamala is not in the top ten of my choices, Trump doesn’t even make the list –period.  As I keep saying, I wouldn’t vote for Trump if he was running unopposed and a gun was being held to my head.

Here’s to hoping Kamala wins in a landslide on election day and that Trump disappears into oblivion!

VOTE!

Curbside pickup

 I don't know exactly when I learned about curbside pickup but I'm certain I didn't really understand how it worked until at least the summer of 2020, during the pandemic.  Once I discovered it I found that I love it!  It's so easy to just drive up and get your order.

Of course, like anything else, there are pros and cons to curbside pickup.  A pro is that you don't end up with the impulse buys you might end up with if you did the shopping yourself.  A con is that if you forget to include something you need on your order, you're not going to be in the store to see it and have that "aha" moment and end up getting what you need.  Another con is that I've ended up with items I wouldn't have bought if I'd done the shopping myself.  An example would be leafy greens.  I believe it was collard greens.  I ordered a leafy green and what I was sent home with looked like something that was one day away from needing to be thrown out - if that.  Right now I have a sweet potato that came with a good chunk of one end of it that needs to be cut off because it's not good.  And then there are the substitutions.  Most are okay but some are like "how did you come up with that from what I ordered?"

But with all that said, the thing that really bothers me is the grocery bag situation.  The place I get my groceries recently started offering to bag the groceries at the car, if you bring your own reuseable bags - which I do.  The number of bags I have has dwindled some because they've been abused by sackers.  I think I have 9 left, which usually is enough for my orders.

The problem is that these people seem to be trained to overstuff the bags for some reason.  I take all my bags with me and get home to find four are stuffed so full that there is a risk the straps will tear when I lift it.  The other five will be empty.  I mean, what is the point in that?  I've started telling people when they bring my groceries out to fill as many as possible.  I forgot to tell the person that today and she left me with I believe three empty bags.  Meanwhile, my bread was just thrown in the trunk without being put in a bag.  Like, what's up with that?

Now, the thing is, if I hadn't checked that I was bringing my own bags and they had bagged them in the store, I would have my groceries divided into 75 different bags instead of the four they crammed them into at the car!  

Maybe it's just me but I wish there was a happy medium here!  Just saying!

Medication Advertisements

 I record most things I want to watch so that I can watch them at a later time, fast forwarding through the commercials. 

But every now and then I catch a commercial advertising some drug.  I usually miss what the medication is for but hear the long list of possible side effects, and wonder if the side effects are worth what it supposedly helps.

To put it in perspective, years ago I had a dog that was allergic to everything.  He was on a medication that had a low dose steroid in it, as well as an anti-histamine.  Even though it was a low dose steroid, over time it caused issues and I had to take them off of them and try something else to help with his allergies.

The first "drug" a "specialist" prescribed for him almost killed him and I took him off of it.  So the specialist prescribed something else for him - a people medication that's used when a person has an organ transplant.

The side effects listed were mostly standard, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, etc.  It also could cause "severe" headaches, which I didn't like because it wasn't like he could tell me his head hurt.  But the one that was a deal breaker for me (even though I had already paid an obscene amount for the drug when I found out) was that it can cause cancer.  Cancer!

I mentioned that this was to treat his allergies, right?  Yeah.  I wasn't going to run the risk of giving my dog cancer, just so his allergies wouldn't bother him!  That was a side effect that wasn't worth the risk to me.

But back to the commercial ads for drugs.  One day I caught what the drug being pushed was for and what else they told you you would have to do while taking the drug.

The drug "helps" prevent HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.  You have to test negative for the virus to take the drug and then have to get tested every few months to be sure you still don't have it and to monitor your organ functioning because it can cause kidney damage and failure - including death, among other things.  But here's the thing that made me wonder who comes up with this stuff - it says to practice safe sex while you're on the drug, using condoms.

Um, wouldn't that help prevent getting the virus too?  And it causes no threat to your organs and life.  So, why is the drug needed?

Maybe it's just me but that falls in the category of the risk of the side effects aren't worth the potential benefits - especially considering you can achieve the same results in other, much safer, ways.

Yet, I'm sure there are people that see that and call their doctors, asking to prescribe the drugs for them . . . just to be safe.  Crazy!

Book Review - Friends Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing

 

I stayed up until almost 2:00 a.m. last night to finish reading Matthew Perry's autobiography.  It was very compelling reading.  But in the interest of full disclosure, I hadn't intended to read his book at all.  I've always liked him in the roles he played but I didn't think I wanted to read a book about addiction.  Plus, when he did his interviews when the book came out, he looked like he was in need of a bath - in all of them because his hair always looked greasy.  On top of that, he talked about making out with Valerie Bertinelli when her husband was ten feet away from them, although I may have read that in articles about the book - pre-release.  Anyway, the point is, if he hadn't died, I probably wouldn't have read his book and it's a book worth reading, in my opinion.

I'm not an alcoholic or a drug addict but I do believe it's a disease that is hard to keep in "remission".  It's easy for a non-addict to say that you just shouldn't take that first drink but it's not that easy for the addict and Matthew goes into painstaking detail about his battle with booze and drugs.  He talks about his abandonment issues and how he wanted to fill the hole he felt in his life and he used booze and drugs to try to fill it.  He'd wanted fame because he thought that would do the trick but it didn't.  He kept meeting wonderful women but would break up with them before they could break up with him.  It was a pretty sad existence. 

Lisa Kudrow wrote the forward and she said she hated being asked how he was in interviews because the truth was, she didn't know.  Plus, she didn't feel it was her story to tell.  She also felt that NOT responding was bad too so she said she typically said something along the lines of "I think he's okay" and left it at that.  She said that now we all knew.  Because of the spacing in the ebook, the "from him" was on the next page.  The "now we all knew" seemed prophetic, given his death.

Matthew also said some things that seemed prophetic, as well.  It was eerie reading these things after his death. Chilling really.

He told a story how at one point he was in Switzerland and was being prescribed a certain dose of a drug.  He was told his doctor in the US would give him the same dose when he got home.  He chartered a plane, paying $175,000 to do so, and came home.  His doctor said he'd only give him a small fraction of what he could get in Switzerland, so he paid another $175,000 to go back to Switzerland.  That's what addiction can do to you.

One of the stories that bothered me most was one from a couple of years ago.  His bowels had already exploded and he'd had a number of surgeries but he was still smoking.  He started hearing some wheezing and made a doctor's appointment.  He figured he had a bronchial infection but turns out his years of smoking had done a number on his lungs.  He was told he needed to stop smoking immediately - that day - or he would die at 60.  The doctor told him he could live until his 80s if he stopped.  Stopping smoking proved challenging for him (a hypnotist was involved - twice) but he quit (and nothing was said to say he went back to it either).  He said that quitting cigarettes was harder than quitting drugs.  I've heard that before and think it's probably true (but have no firsthand experience with either).  But what bothered me is that he didn't make it until 60 - he was six years away from it when he died.

Knowing how it all ended, it was sad reading but I do think important.  He wanted to be more remembered for helping addicts (Hank Azaria credits Matthew with getting him sober) get sober than anything else and I hope he will be.  He thought writing this book might help others, I think it will.

I highly recommend it.

Dancing with the Stars Most Memorable Week

 I watched Dancing with the Stars last night and then watched the dances again earlier today.

Last night the stars recalled their most memorable years and then danced to them, telling the story of that year and what it meant to them.

I'm just going to go on record as saying, no one should be sent home on most memorable year night - period.  These people pour their hearts out with their stories and then again on the dance floor, and then one couple is sent home.  It's heartbreaking to see that.  They should let the votes carry over to the next week and send TWO couples home then.  But not on most memorable year night.  It's just wrong.

SPOILER ALERT!!!  I'm going to talk about who went home so if you haven't watched and don't want to know, stop reading now!  SPOILER ALERT!!!

The last three couples standing were Mira Sorvino, Alyson Hannigan and Harry (whose last name I don't know).  They were also the three bottom scorers of the night with Harry at the bottom, Alyson three points higher and Mira one point higher than Alyson. 

I think I mentioned last week that I vote for Mira and Alyson and I did again last night.  (I also vote for Barry but he had a great dance and scored a 24 last night, which was two points higher than Mira.)

Something I've noticed over the years though, is that a man who can't dance can go further in the competition than he deserves because women do most of the voting and they'll vote for a cute male who can't dance before they vote for a woman who can dance.  And I think they did that last night because Harry wasn't the one who went home, even though he deserved to, based on the scores the judges gave him.

Mira was the one who went home last night.  The part that was hard for me was that her memorable year was the year her daughter was born - and her daughter joined her in the dance!  The judges talked about the humor in the dance (which I didn't pick up on - even the second time I watched it) and said how good and sweet it was, etc.  She got her best score yet with the dance.  I thought it was a good dance, deserving of better scores than it got but I hated seeing her go home on a dance that was essentially dedicated to her daughter and one in which that daughter participated in the dance.

I'll just say it again, no one should be sent home on most memorable year week!

Dancing with the Stars

 This season of Dancing with the Stars has had some controversy.  The first thing I heard about the controversy was that one of the contestants had some sort of scandal (I don't remember specifics - domestic abuse, sexual assault?  I really don't remember) that outraged people that he would be allowed on the show.  I don't know all the names but his first name is Adrian, I believe.  Anyway, there were posts online about how the professional should've declined to dance with him, etc. but it moved forward anyway.

Then came the scandal of one of the contestants (I believe his name is Matt something - from Veep) saying they were backing out because of the writer's strike.  The writer's came to an agreement right before the premiere so he danced on night one, and was promptly sent home.  I don't remember his dance and couldn't tell you who his partner was (Peta maybe?).  Then the rumblings online were that he was unfairly sent home because he had briefly walked out - that it was political.  Then that got put behind us.

I watched this past Tuesday's episode but, to be honest, it didn't get my full attention when it was on live.  I record it and decided not to delete it after watching it because I wanted to go back and watch the dances again to see what I had missed and what I thought about who went home.  

**SPOILER ALERT**  If you have not watched it yet and don't want to know who went home, stop reading now!  **SPOILER ALERT**

Adrian was sent home on Tuesday.  When I went back and watched the dancing for the night, his actually was one of the best of the night, in my opinion.  I believe his dance was the Viennese Waltz and it was so smooth and graceful and lovely to watch - and I say this as someone who has wanted him to go home since I heard about his "scandal" (that I can't remember exactly what it was).  I felt his scores were low for his performance (he got all 7s for a score of 21), but I also felt others got scores lower than they deserved too.  Anyway, there were at least 3 - maybe 4 or even 5 - people with lower scores than he got and he was in a three way tie with the score he had gotten, but he was the one sent home.  It kind of surprised me.  Even though I wanted him to go home, he didn't deserve to go home on that dance.  But I guess that's the nature of the show?

Anyway, I read an article today that Charity (I think she recently was the Bachelorette - I haven't watched that in years so can't say with a certainty) was dissatisfied with her scores from the other night - she felt she deserved higher scores (she got all 8s from the judges for a score of 24).  Her partner (Artem) said he felt the scores were good but said something to the effect that there wasn't any constructive criticism given so it's hard to know what to work on from here (I would have to go back and see what was said because I don't usually retain that after it's given, although Adrian did get great feedback from his dance - I believe Derek even stood up and applauded him . . . and then he went home, but I digress).  Thing is, historically, when contestants publicly complain about their scores, they don't typically last on the show much longer, with most going home the very next week.  The judges give their feedback based on the actual dance but the viewers' voting is a popularity contest and most viewers don't seem to like it when contestants think they're better than they may be and vote accordingly.  That said, I would be okay if she went home next week.

Last thing I will say, I've been voting for Mira Sorvino every week (her, Barry Williams and Alyson Hannigan have been getting my votes every week).  Last week she danced the rumba.  For me, the rumba is probably my least favorite dance because unless it's danced by two professionals, it - to me - looks clunky.  It's a slow and sensual dance.  Mira was dissatisfied with her scores (it was shown in her package before this week's dance - I didn't see anything else come out publicly) because she thought it had been her best dance so far.  For me, I felt that she got the steps and movements down well but the problem for me was that I didn't believe the "sensual" part of the dance, which is key and very important to the reception the dance gets, at least in my opinion.  For that reason, I didn't agree that it was her best dance.  She seemed to be concentrating on the steps and movements - which again, she did well - but lost a key component to the dance, again, in my opinion.  This week, however, she did very well, in my opinion.  I think she did a waltz (maybe the Viennese Waltz? can't remember for certain).  She was one of them that I thought deserved better scores (she was one that tied with Adrian - who went home).

In any event, that's my very limited recap of the show so far this season.  I still enjoy the show but feel like I know fewer and fewer of the contestants each season but can say with a certainty that I don't care for it when the contestants complain about the scores they get because I don't believe the judges skew the scores for particular contestants, even when I don't always agree with the scores they dole out.

Doggy Daycare

 A few weeks ago I was offered an incredible opportunity to take a trip with friends.  It was to a country I had been scheduled to go to last year but had to cancel last minute so it was all the more exciting for that reason.  

But of course, I have dogs, which makes traveling more challenging.  On the plus side, my next door neighbor runs a kennel at her home.

I went on their website to look and see if she had openings for my pups for the trip.  It was then that I realized that the trip was a four week trip, not a three week trip like I was thinking.  Three weeks is more than I want to be away myself, much less four weeks with the dogs kenneled so I ended up passing on the trip.

BUT, I accidentally clicked on something while on the neighbor's website, which started an email exchange between me and my neighbor.  I ended up scheduling a "meet and wag" with the new addition to my family, Benji.

From there, I scheduled a couple of "overnight" visits for the boys (they weren't staying overnight though - I wanted "daycare" but her program had no openings and overnight bookings were the only way they could get daycare play time).

Then she had an opening come up in the daycare program so I took the slot.  Having a set schedule that the boys go out to play with others, I decided to make plans for those days.  I would get things done that are harder to do with them underfoot, right?  I could be out all day and not worry what might be happening at home (Benji was a little more aggressive towards Oreo than I would have liked when he first got here - he's calmed down in that regard though so it's all good now).

So, it's been four or five weeks now that they've been going to the neighbor's and the boys come home exhausted, so it's a quiet evening.  Which is a good thing because getting things done is exhausting too!  But the good news it, at least one night a week, we all sleep really well!  :)

Book Review: Save What's Left

 

I loved this book!  I started it late one evening and that's the only reason I didn't read it in one day!

 

Kathleen Deane is a woman who, due to an unexpected life event, uproots her life and moves to another state.  I totally related to this because I did this last year.  The author discloses the year Kathleen was born and it was the year before I was born so I also had that in common with the heroine of the story - similar life experiences.

 

Kathleen moved to this town because it had been "presented" to her as charming and lovely and just heaven.  (Same for where I moved - difference was I had been here before and came to that conclusion on my own and not just told that's how it was, like Kathleen.)  But when she arrives, she finds that things aren't as she believed and she finds it hard to fit in.  She ruffles a few feathers.  (seriously, with minor modifications, this could be MY story!)

 

What I liked about it is that it was relatable, at least for my situation.  It made me have to laugh at it - as well as laughing at the situation I find myself in!  It's kind of like how you find humor in someone else's "disasters" (for lack of a better word) but in this case, it was even more funny because I could see how it applied to my own situation.

 

So, I mentioned Kathleen experienced an unexpected life event that caused her to make the move, right?  Well, her situation was that her husband of thirty years left her and went on a world cruise to "find himself".  He bores of the cruise life and shows up at her house one day, unannounced, with an Airstream in her driveway that he decides to live in . . . in her driveway!  Tom (her husband) starts meeting people and everyone LOVES him - adores him even, he fits right in while Kathleen remains the town pariah.  Tom adopts a dog (Roger), that he walks daily.  Everyone loves Roger too.

Things happen and while Tom finds himself recovering from an accident and Kathleen is in the hospital for poisoning, their daughter, Hattie, shows up unexpectedly (and doesn't know her parents are dealing with medical issues).  While there, she takes up walking Roger.  When asked who she is, she tells people she's Kathleen's daughter and no one knows who Kathleen is, but they know Roger and know he belongs to Tom.  This was hysterical to me.  Kind of reminded me of What About Bob? where Bill Murray's character endears himself to everyone while Richard Dreyfuss' character is hated - I just found it funny.

The ending was a bit of a letdown but it wasn't that it was bad - it just didn't meet the high bar set by the rest of the book's story, in my opinion.  There is more to the story than I've conveyed here but I really enjoyed it and it made me laugh - a LOT.  I'd recommend it to anyone who has picked up their life and moved somewhere new or even if you've just considered picking up your life and moving, or if you just want to laugh.  It was a fun read!  😀