Manic Morning

It's been a long time, old blog. I have been running myself ragged as of late. Partly for good reasons, partly for bad. The end result will be the same really, so it shouldn't matter.

Today started out nice - I woke up at 05:00 went to the gym, did my workout, sat in the steam room, took a relaxing shower. I decided I would be a wonderful girlfriend and drive T$ to campus this morning as it was approximately 40F and pouring. Hypothermia weather for cyclists, stay-in-bed weather for the rest of the population. I got home, walked in and was automatically assaulted by the most pungent smell. A vaguely familiar yet completely offensive smell. Where was it coming from? What was it? Sniffing around I found the source of the attack on my olfactory senses. One of the dogs had peed on the dining room carpet. Awesome. The house is being shown today by my realtor...in approximately 2 hours...and it reeks of dog urine. Sweet! Should we put up a sign asking potential prospects "Buy my pee smelling house!" or "Great deal on dog pee home!" WTH?!?!?! So my nice relaxing start to the day was abruptly ended. Now I was left with a carpet (which will most likely be tossed out with tomorrow's trash now - thanks Sergei!) which needed to be pulled, furniture which needed rearranging, and a floor which required scrubbing. Good times.

The madness ended with me using all kinds of profanity, one dog running for his life, the other dog hiding just because she didn't understand why mommy is acting so crazy, and a boyfriend who was adding to the profanity on top of my profanity...

The drive to R.I.T. was a little more calm (the fact that I was eating breakfast probably helped a little). Sometimes I wonder why I have animals at all. I mean, really, did he know that the house is being shown today? Ugh! Murphy's law.

Arriving at work, later than I would have liked, I checked all of my emails as I normally do first thing. I received one from a family friend which contained photos of our families in Argentina*. The one that put a much needed smile back on my face this morning was this one:

This is my grandfather Alexander. He was one of my favourite people in the world. Always smiling, always kind. (I bet he never yelled at his dogs :) I only wish we had the opportunity to ride bikes together at some point in our lives....someday. This picture gives me great hope. I certainly needed that this morning.


*Half of my family relocated to Argentina from Russia during the Revolution. The other half ended up in Western Europe, mostly in Luxembourg, before everyone decided to come to the U.S.