Voluntarily. The TPTB went in after the curfew against driving was lifted, found power on and no damage, but told us footsoldiers we could take the day off anyway. I told them I was coming in anyway. Yes, I'm insane. But I was out yesterday and this morning, and I took vacation back in April for Thursday and Friday, so I didn't want to come in for just one day. More importantly, Mom and I were getting on each other's nerves, mostly because Roxie flatout refuses to leave the bedroom. I was given permission to bring CJ to the office (where she promptly pooped in the middle of the floor; sheesh) and even with CJ off the property for 3 hours, apparently it took over 2 of them to get Roxie to go outside. Mom feels this is my fault.

Anyway, there wasn't much going on, just 2 days' worth of mail and few pieces to prep for outgoing. So CJ & I were there about 3 hours, got work done, CJ visited the boss (she knows who keeps treats in his desk!) and hopefully earned brownie points against being out half the week.

Now I need to get some sleep - I had to sleep in the basement thanks to Sandy, and my body/mind just didn't like being in a bed that wasn't mine. Only got a couple hours in as a result.

Still have power, wind and rain are both picking up, CJ is still willing to leave the porch to do her thing but I doubt that'll last much longer, her dentist appointment is still on for tomorrow but work is very unlikely. I might wind up with the whole week off; I took Thursday and Friday off for Euroquest back in April, we closed today and will probably be closed tomorrow. Wednesday will depend on whether we have power. Running through the DVRed shows while we can.

ETA - Doggie dentist just called, tomorrow is cancelled.

Somewhere in the last couple weeks, CJ managed to break one of her canine teeth off at the base. Beats me how. It doesn't look infected, but she goes to the vet Wednesday to rule out any need for a doggie root canal. It never ends.

The TV volume has behaved the last 48 hours. I don't know what was up with that. But that beeping noise is back, just a few hours after my latest fix. I can't even figure out WHAT is beeping, dangit. Meanwhile CJ needed just 12 hours to bust the newly reattched latches off the crate.

No wonder I'm watching Dr. Horrible.

That's been my day. I'm not sure how or when, but my back was killing me this morning, especially my lower back, which isn't what usually bugs me. It got worse and worse at work, so much so that I left early, which is something I just don't do. But I could barely walk or sit up and that point, and driving hurt even worse. So naturally I left my 'Mom' folder at the office, the day we met with the lawyer.

The elder care portion of the program was fine - we all agreed on what we want to do and how to do it. Then came the fun part - deciding what happens with the house. The attorney started listing all the different options and the financial and tax implications of each, Mom had no idea what was going on, I didn't follow much and even my brother started asking 'Huh?' And naturally, he likes the options where I can live in the house, but he gets to tell me HOW I live in the house. Lovely. He's fixated on the idea of me living in a condo instead, because he's convinced I couldn't possibly be capable of living in a house. Can I afford a mortgage? No, but that's a moot point as the house will be paid off. Can I handle the other aspects of homeownership? I think so. But he doesn't believe it. Feh. Anyway, we had to stop the meeting due to time, now we're resuming in two weeks to keep talking house. (The rest of it will be done and ready for signature in two weeks.)

Then I came home and...found CJ had figured out how to get at my clothes from inside the crate. So I had to find some way to block off the sides of the crate, which wasn't what my back was up for, so I'm hurting all over again now. Enough already. I'm going to bed.

At least, off from the internet, for the most part. I had today off of work (Happy Rosh Hashanah, as applicable) so I took Mom to a Senior Day Center to see what she thought. We were greeted by a dog named Buttercup. I consider that a good sign. Mom thinks it's too expensive, but my brother doesn't, so I'll let him convince her she can afford it. Then lunch at a new sandwich shop, Potbelly's. I think it's a chain. Decent sandwich though, and Mom was happy with hers.

Rest of the day was TV and computer games, as I caught up with nearly everything on the DVR and finally watched last year's 'Whitechapel'. I put that off because series 2 did nothing for me; turns out series 3 was much, much better. I'm taking '2001: A Space Odyssey' a chunk at a time, because I've tried and failed to watch it a few times already. I liked the 'trio' episode of Leverage much more than the rest of this season, and Mom actually liked it, first time in years she's liked the show. Maybe we have our new direction - just let Elliott, Hardison and Parker be the show. Fine with me. I enjoyed Doctor Who, esp. the conversations with the horse. Big surprise, right? We also watched Bill Maher, who I think properly summed up recent events thusly: "Some crazy Christians pretending to be crazy Jews riled up a bunch of crazy Muslims, so Mitt Romney could prove Mormons are even crazier."

Sunday, I was a party host. Can't remember the last time I tried that. But 4 of my gaming friends came over for the 'game', that being Ravens/Eagles, of course. We had an Eagles fan. I seated him near the door and we took turns reminding him we could easily toss him out of it. But he had the last laugh, dammit. But we had a grand time other than the final score, and a couple people stayed after and we played board games until late. I had to let CJ out eventually, but she was nice to the strangers! Total relief, that. The whole thing must have gone well, because the last folks out said we should do this again. My back isn't so sure about that, I'm a hurting pup today (presumably from moving around the furniture) but otherwise, yeah, gamers at the game, why not?

No gaming and not a lot of things that interest me this weekend, so it's been a stay home, sleep and putter around the house. I've gotten a few things done and plenty more I'll do tomorrow, mostly bathe Roxie and vacuum the house. I already bathed CJ, did tons of grocery shopping and a lot of computer stuff.

Also working on clearing off the DVR - watching a pile of movies this weekend. We've already watched 16 Blocks (good little film) and The Hurt Locker (good, but a bit overlong) and now we're watching Giant. Talk about overlong, all 3.5 hours of it. Don't know how long I'll last with it, but so far it's just confirmed for me that I would never live in Texas.

And of course there was Doctor Who last night - I wasn't spoiled for it in terms of plot, but my expectations for it were raised by what I did hear and of course then it's not what I thought it would be. Good thing I don't expect the show to make sense, there were some serious plot holes and Huh? things, but enjoyable all the same.

I am only partly kidding. CJ jumped on me and raked me with her claws twice today, back of the left calf and just over the left knee. The resulting marks are nasty enough that people commented at gaming. While at gaming, the hosts' dog Dexter ran into me at full speed - his skull and my right kneecap. Owie. Later I got down on the floor with him for tummy rubs - something startled him and he leapt to his feet without warning. My right knee was under his foot. Another owie.

Sheesh dogs, I'm on your side!

CJ's new, expensive, 'doggie Alcatraz' crate arrived yesterday. Took me (with 'help' from Mom, who doesn't know the difference between a bolt and a nut now) almost 2 hours to haul it upstairs (it weighs around 50-60 pounds), clean it and put it together. Except for the latches, which seem a little weak, this sucker is solid. Half-inch posts and 3/4 inch frame, stainless steel. Bust out of this one, dog. And the latches, while the weak point, there's two of them and of my own accord I decided to install them going in opposite directions, in further deterrence. I hope. I mean, I'd like to think I'm smarter than my dog...anyway, other than some whimpers, she survived the night in there. My hands and back are killing me, but I think I've finally gotten one item of stress off my plate.

And then I'll get the credit card bill for this. Eesh.

Partly because I slept in, partly because I was achy all over, but mostly because the jackass with the dog crate e-mailed Sunday night to say he still had the crate and would I like to pick it up on Monday? So I e-mailed back, gave him my cell number again, and waited. And of course, not a peep. I want the damn crate, and I can't afford one new, and this is the only one I've see out there used; but apparently, he doesn't actually want to sell it. Just wants to string me out and make me skip a day with friends. Asshole.

At least I finally managed to give CJ a bath. Which she hasn't forgiven me for yet.