The disgustingness continues (don't read while eating!)

I thought it was bad enough when Piper was eating dog poop. I've been very relieved to find her cravings seem to have been pretty short-lived. I did catch her with some in her mouth yesterday, but that was the first time in a few weeks. For the most part, she seems to be done with that. Whew.

As glad as I was to see that phase end, I'd definitely have chosen that reaction to dog waste instead of the reaction she had this morning.

I was trying to leave my apartment early enough to stop off at the post office before work. I had a care package to send to K, and I knew there would be about 1.5 billion procrastinators heading to that same destination today to mail off Christmas packages they should have sent off yesterday at the latest. I was doing pretty well with my goal of leaving early. I finished getting ready a good 20 minutes before I usually do.

I took Piper outside so she could do her thing before I put her in my car. She took her dear sweet time going to the bathroom, and once she had finally gone, I cleaned it up and headed toward the dumpster with the ... well, you know. Anyway, I turned around to see Piper had stopped behind me. She dropped to the ground and started rolling around in one spot. "You're disgusting!" I called back at her, since I thought she was rolling around in another dog's urine. Ick.

I got back to my car and instructed Piper to climb in, like I do every morning. She climbed into my passenger's seat and turned toward me. I was horrified to see something brown on her neck, the bottom of her ear and part of her leg. Then, I noticed a stench.

"OHMYGOSHPIPERYOU'REDISGUSTING!!! GET OUT OF MY CAR! GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT!" She looked at me, confused, and jumped out of my car. I led her up the stairs to my apartment and opened the door. I walked her straight to my kitchen as I tried to figure out what to do with her.

Clearly, she needed a bath. I had no time for that. I could give her a quick spot treatment, cleaning just that side of her body. But I still would need to use shampoo. Lots of it. Even then, I'd probably still not want to touch her contaminated fur.

I cleaned as much off of her as I could with a paper towel. She smelled absolutely disgusting. I told her this several times. I was left with only one choice: leave her at home. I put her in her little crate, made sure she had some toys with her, and left my apartment.

I headed to the post office, frustrated that I'd have to go back home during lunch to take her outside. Do I stay and work from home after that? Do I try to bathe her on my break? Do I just leave her in her crate again and come back to work?

When I got to the post office, I saw the enormous line of people waiting to mail packages. Ugh. K's package would have to wait.

I had checked my mail earlier that morning to see that I had gotten quite a few Christmas cards since last Thursday (the last time I checked my mail). I opened each of them. The last was from K's roommate's fiance. It had a picture inside of her and him. It made me miss them. And then I was crying.

I had decided somewhere in my morning errands and commute that I was going to have to work from home the rest of the afternoon. That normally wouldn't be such a big deal, but today, it was frustrating. I had flowers to enjoy at my desk. I had worn my Army w!fe shirt, and I didn't want to waste it on a working-from-home day.

I made myself think of some reasons that change in plans will be good: 1) I won't have to deal with the evening commute. 2) I can get my hair cut at the time I'd normally be stuck in traffic in said commute. Which means I can still go to the gym afterwards! 3) I can try to mail the package again at lunch. 4) I can do laundry while I'm working. 5) People will see my awesome shirt at the salon, the post office and Pet$mart, which is where I've decided Piper will go to get her bath. I don't have time to give her one when she really needs it, and I can have her nails clipped while she's there as well. Taking her for the clipping was on my to-do list for the week anyway.

While it does feel better to have realized the good parts of the change in plans, it was still (quite literally) a very crappy way to start my day.