When it Rains, it Pours (4 1/2 more days!!!!)

I'll start with my morning yesterday. I locked myself (and Huntor) out of the apartment. I had no purse or cell phone and was in my pajamas. The school is barely 3 blocks away, why should I take those things along with me?! I guess that I thought that about my apartment keys as well. I pounded on the landlord's door for about 10 minutes, it must've been too early for them to answer the door. Then I scrounged up some change in the van and was praying that Huntor and I could find a payphone somewhere in the city. Then, as we drove back by the school, I remembered that Tai had her cell phone with her at school. WooHoo. I went into the school, in my hat and pj's and got her phone out of her locker and left her a note. I called the landlord and he finally came and let us in.

So I brought Huntor in all wrapped in his blankets and set him on the futon. a.k.a My bed. Hmmmmmmm seems pretty low. Yep, it's broken. Fat mom has really done it now!

Huntor was a stinker all day long. He was tired and wanted to go meet some friends. Mommy had to scrub the bathroom. It was grossing her out too much to leave it another day.

I decide to do the dishes so that I could cook dinner for the kiddos. That became a problem. Both the kitchen sinks were clogged. "With what" Alan asked. My response was "shit". Like I know what was clogging it! Dork! **side story** There is no range hood above the stove/oven in this apartment so when you are cooking and you take the lid off of the pan, the smoke alarm goes off! It really boosts a bad cooks ego!!** He asked if I wanted him to call the landlord's. Heck no! I'm a Shipman girl! He apparently forgot my car keys fiasco already. =) ha ha

I was totally sad because there was a chance that Al was going to be home that night and he called and said that he'd now be back by Friday if he was lucky. So, I finally cried. I'm a baby!

We had to run to the grocery store to get some milk. Huntor was terrible there too! When we walked into the apt, there were some pink roses and a couple of cards setting there for us. Alan knew that I'd had such a crappy day that he surprised us and came home. Aah! What a sigh of relief! It was so nice, and the kids were so good! We just kept hugging and snuggling each other. We put the kids in bed and chatted. Of coarse about business stuff.

Then, THE TEXT that led to THE CALL. Pepper our black lab had been hit by a car. Pepper was not just our dog, but part of our family! She was referred to as "my black child" or "our other girl". Yes, we are those ridiculous people that call ourselves mom and dad to our dog!

Everyone in our neighborhood in Glendive loved her because she looked after all of the neighborhood kids. She was the best dog you could ever have!! She guarded the kids with her life. She let the babies ride on her, pull her tail, and inspect her pearly whites. Jayden has even pulled her tongue out of her mouth to see if she had his sucker. She had such a gentle spirit, yet loved to play with the kids at any moment in time. Every single morning her and Huntor would rough house for at least a few minutes. The kids would lay on her while they watched TV. She wouldn't get into her bed at night until she had checked on each of the kids. While Amber was living with us, she had a couple of bad nights. Pepper would hear her crying and go down and put her head on Amber's leg until Amber was ready to sleep. But then Pepper would stay the night in her room, by her side. She was my big black rug. Everytime, I turned around she was laying right behind where I was standing, and I would trip over her. When she wanted a treat, she would bark at me and put her bum up in the air wagging her tail. Then she would race me to the cupboard where we kept them. Alan taught her the word "easy" when giving her a treat. So she had such a soft mouth and was so patient to get her cookies!

My mom didn't see it happen. The person who hit her had driven off. The next two cars did stop. Thank God for them! They helped mom get her loaded into her suburban. Mom was on the phone with Amber when it happened, so Amber hurried and called Mandi and Leisha. Mandi called the vet to meet mom at their office. Pepper didn't ever bite or growl at any of them the whole time that she was being worked on. Mandi held a picture of Tai and Hunt in front of her eyes so that she could think of them. Leisha held her head and told her how much we all loved her. All I could do on my end was cry and pray and hope that she wasn't in too much pain. I was being selfish and told them to do anything to try and save her. The doctor did think that she had a pretty good chance until she found a hernia above her lungs. Dr. called me about 12:30 and told me about the hernia. We decided to make sure that she was comfortable and if she made it through the night, she would probably be stable enough for surgery.

When I woke up at 5:00 I had half-high hopes because my phone hadn't woke me up since I fell asleep about 2:30. Then, right as I was getting ready to take Tai out the door to school, the phone rang. She hadn't made it through the rest of the night. The poor DR. that had to tell me! I hurried off the phone and called my mom and just started howling in the phone. Tailor looked up at me with these huge blue eyes and kept asking what was wrong. By the end of my conversation with my mom, she knew. She cried in my arms for about 20 minutes. Huntor understands the literal of the situation, but I don't think that he gets that he'll never get to see her again.

I'm sad and worried for my kiddos. This very difficult time in their lives would have been more comfortable with their puppy. A new town, new friends, new school, tiny house, most of their things packed, dad being gone so much. Pepper would have made them smile alot more! So tonight please pray for us and our broken hearts! We are going to spend the weekend in Glendive. We were supposed to be going back to pick Pep up and bring her to Williston with us.

O ya, to top off my day.....Tai almost lit the kitchen on fire with easy mac before Volleyball practice! She microwaved it for 3 minutes without any water in the cup! It still smells like smoke/fire in the apt so bad! Don't tease her though, she feels dorky enough about it. A space case just like her mommy!

I'm hoping that my forecast has CLEAR and SUNNY skies up ahead! I promise to not be Eeyore with my posts anymore.
Everyone give your babies and puppies kisses tonight!!