never a dull moment...again!

Oh, those phone calls! Those panic-inducing, spring to action kind...Mali got bit by a dog. We were all dressed and ready for open house, seven of us. The call came from a number I didn't recognize because Mali, who always brings her phone running, had set it down and forgotten to take it.

Aaron jumped in the car and went to get her as we waited to leave in the minivan, kids all excited to show us their classrooms, and Camille thrilled to be going to school. It was very clear when Mali got home that she needed to go to the hospital, but first I had to go to the dog owner and find out if it had had it's rabies vaccination. Bye, kids, have fun with them, Daddy, I cannot believe I am missing Open House at school....

The sad part? The dog owner is so very kind, the dog had all it's shots, is a very nice dog, just doesn't like joggers. The kind dog owner said she will pay the dr. bill, and will do what she has to with the dog, she apologized over and over again...I think the county health department will recommend or require the dog to be put to sleep because this isn't its first offense...the poor lady.

Mali's story:

She was running, and decided to take a different route...(she runs like seven, eight miles a day)...three dogs came running down a long driveway towards her, the big one bit her lower leg and knocked her right down. She fell on her hand hard, bruised her thumb, and the dog jumped on her and was growling...she said she somehow got up and ran down the road, terrified...now this is a back road, a country road, the houses are far apart, she didn't have her phone...she ran up the driveway at the first house she saw, no one was home...the next house, way down the road, the lady was not only home, she was an EMT (Emergency Medical Technician). She let Mali in and washed her up, and let her use her phone...and told her she really needed to go to the hospital...

Now the really interesting part: we got to the hospital, and there was my dear sister-in-law at the Emergency Room with her daughter Olivia, our sweet little niece/cousin/friend who spends lots of nights at our house...she had a FONDUE fork stuck in the bottom of her foot. It had prongs on it, couldn't just pull it out...she was in agony because it was in the soft part of her foot..so there was Mali, blood dripping down her leg and soaking her sock, and Olivia in the wheelchair holding the end of that fork so it didn't wiggle...

Olivia is now on crutches for a few days, a bit of local anesthesia and the dr. got it out, ouch. Poor girl, no gymnastics for a few days for her. Mali got her wounds cleaned up and some of those new plastic stitches put on, so they can drain...she has some major bruising, too. That dog was big!

Mali and I spent a considerable amount of time trying to figure out why events transpire the way they do. We already spent the whole day together, did God want us to spend more time together? (I mentioned I probably was driving her crazy, but she insisted I don't drive her crazy. I took that as a really huge compliment).

We were both so hungry...I had decided not to eat dinner before Open House, just a yogurt...so we went to Subway after - she got a vegetarian sub with triple cheese, and I got a Hot Buffalo chicken sub...we had to eat some of them before heading home...then got some gas in the college kid's nice little car...then home. Oops, a State Police car in the driveway. The hospital had reported the dog bite, and the cop thought we would be home...not yet, we had to eat and get gas! We didn't know they were sending an officer to our house. Poor Paul! He thought it was us coming home, and Rosie was out on the deck barking...when he realized the barking wasn't stopping, he went out and there was the cop, saying, "State Police here.." oops. He got Rosie inside and in her cage....thankfully she didn't bit the officer....

Now, if you know me at all, you know that my worst nightmare, besides getting those scary phone calls, and besides going to the Emergency Room with dirty hair (ha, this time I was all dressed and my hair was clean!), is having the police come when the house is messy. And dangit, it was messy. The officer only went as far as the kitchen, but my goodness...shoes everywhere, what good is it to have shoe shelves? The empty Economy Sized Folger's coffee container I had given to Camille to keep her money for the candy store in, lying there on the floor...a few socks, Sonja's half finished Solar System project on the table with a few backpacks and some dishes...the three, yes THREE huge bags of dog food I had stocked up on because I had a coupon and it was on sale, and which I HAD asked the boys to take downstairs...blah. All I can say is blah. Because I try so hard to be neat and respectable, and no one ever stops in to take our statement when the house is clean.

Poor Mali can't run for a few days. And, she will probably have a few scars on her best assets, according to her. Oh well. Nothing happens by chance, and we did have some good fun. We got to laughing while waiting for the doctor to come back into the examining room, imagining if I sat on the little dr. stool and she started giving me a hair cut with the scissors he had used for the gauze. We were tired, it was getting late, and we laughed ourselves almost to the floor with that one...

Because I am so nice I am going to pick Margaret up early from school today so she doesn't have to endure the Pep Rally. Some of my kids have ZERO school spirit, which is fine with me. (it is always good to remind the kids how nice I am when I do something for them, right?)

So I got to bed after one a.m., and got up at 6:30 to take the Bad Dog for her walk. I am ready for a nap now. hmm, I wonder how long Camille will sleep this morning.... nah, she is up already...I have nap-on-the-brain, now. Perhaps, just perhaps, I can sneak one in....a nice long one, not interrupted by any phone calls or FedEx deliveries or slamming doors or barking dogs...the chances are looking slim.