Infection Control

(Post was written on Thursday, but sadly not posted until today)

I know it’s been awhile, but we’re here in Atlanta again and doing well. We had to say goodbye to Union Street...farewell first house.

I’ve started the new job and George is back working with humans. Life is good. We have unpacked about 1/3 of our stuff, and the other things are happily resting in cardboard boxes around the house. We couldn’t have asked for a better neighborhood for us and the dogs. Less than a mile from the house is a dog park with fun ramps and things for the girls to play on.

There is a fantastic Mexican restaurant near by, as well as pizza, a Thai place and a pub. Everything George and I could need. Only thing is that lately we’ve been forced to eat out at these establishments much to the shagrin of our budget. Our adorable new cottage that is convenient to work, in a wonderful walking neighborhood, and close to awesome restaurants, but is also being invaded by the Germans, of the roach variety that is. Apparently these suckers are hard to kill and multiply like rabbits. Fantastic.

We’ve had the Terminx men out twice and they seem to be subsiding. We were informed that they love to eat grease, need water to drink and enjoy warm spots, like behind all six appliances in the kitchen, which is of course where they’ve taken up residence. In the mean time, we haven’t unpacked anything into the kitchen and we kill several little suckers about every thirty minutes. Last week George had a melt down about this issue and other stressors with moving into a new place, and this week it is my turn. Two weeks of eating out had gotten to us and our bank account, so we attempted to cook in our kitchen for the first time. After a thorough cleaning of every surface in the kitchen, twice – once before and once after, I lost it. Maybe I’m not cut out to be on bug patrol. I’m sick of killing them every time I turn around. I’m tired of walking into the kitchen every morning, turning on the lights and watching them scurry. I’m not excited about seeing them in other places around the house either. And I’m really not happy that the problem isn’t going to go away quickly.

In addition to the bugs (bugs sounds so much better than the “r” word), mother nature has blessed us with rain for the past three nights. Unfortunately, this means that the girls are absolutely nuts. And you would be too if you spent 8 hours in a crate and then were only able to go outside long enough to pee and poo. (And I should mention that they have to be taken out on a leash because they’re doing work in the backyard.) They have now taken to finding indoor ways of expensing their energy. This typically includes jumping on mom and dad until we pay attention – Laney has graciously taught Glory this neat trick), play fighting and slobbering on each other, as well as running up and down the stairs – a new trick since they’ve never had stairs before. “Holy crap mom, what are these things!!!” Laney’s legs aren’t quite long enough to maneuver the stairs without falling head first towards the bottom and then struggling for a graceful landing. Ever so cautious Glory, however, usually gets bit by the crazy one before she reaches stair number four. Yesterday, yes the same day as my melt down with the bugs, the girls decided they’d had enough of each other and fought, but for real this time. I know they love each other, but it was the scariest sound a dog mom could hear. And they definitely did not hear me yelling at them to stop. Unfortunately, I abandoned everything Caesar, The Dog Whisperer” taught me about being the dominant one in the pack and they continued longer than they ever have before. Eventually I caught on and so did they and the fun was over for the afternoon til George got home. So my desperate plea is for a sunny afternoon so the poor babies can go to the park!

In addition to cleaning up bug germs and dog slobber, I also face infection control issues at work. Yes, I work at the hospital, but really I’m in an office building, down the hill from the hospital. But, people here are just as OCD about hand washing as they are on the clinical floors! Bathroom trips are ridiculous. They can’t keep enough potty protector papers in there. Everyone washes with warm water and soap for at least 15 seconds and no one turns off the water without using a paper towel to do so. It’s like they’ve been reading JCAHO’s standards of hand washing or something, or maybe just the back of the stall door. But it doesn’t stop there. No one exits the restroom without using a paper towel to open every door between them and their desk. And no one truly equals no one! Now I’m all for hand washing, but I don’t generally go to such great lengths to keep a paper towel between my hand and any public doorway, usually an elbow will do. Because, what happens when they leave their desk without going to the restroom, how will they open that door? Remember that man, well every man, that didn’t wash their hands, and certainly didn’t use a paper towel while exiting the bathroom this morning? Well, he touched that elevator button just one minute before you did, how bout that!? Despite the excessive nature of this infection control mentality, I have now adopted the paper towel door opener policy for fear of not making friends.

So like I was saying life is good. It really is. There’s just a few obstacles between us and a stress free home life. But, faces like these keep me from going nuts myself.

Also in my blogging hiatus, I neglected to post pictures of my sweet friend Blakely. This gorgeous glowing pregnant lady is due in August, and Marge and I had the pleasure of throwing her a shower last month. We had such a good time seeing everyone and oohing and ahhing over all the cute baby stuff. I can’t wait to see the little guy and I’m hoping he comes during business hours so I can run over to meet him!!