Is the weekend over? Oh noes.

It's been a delightful, crazy, stressful, expensive, fun, depressing, productive, weird four days. Like a regular weekend, times 2!

The plumber brought me tidings of great woe - when he repaired the outside faucet (by cutting a piece of drywall out of the garage wall, and no, plumbers don't fix that) the copper pipe below sprouted a pinhole leak. The hole got larger, the leak got fixed, and the bill was reasonable. I'll get a second opinion and estimates, but we are looking at replumbing. Ballpark figure was four grand, which honestly didn't horrify me - I was guessing more, and I'm still adding 50% to that ballpark. In my not so amateurish opinion, the toll to leave this house will hit 20 grand, and yet, it's still cheaper than staying until property values come back. Seriously, it is - believe me, I've done this calculation so many times it gives me nightmares. I have gone from "cut my losses" to writing a check to get out of here. And this is after going on 14 years in this house. Next person who tells me how "home ownership is a good investment!" will wake up in the hospital.

Murphy went to the vet, for his regular checkup and to finally get the blood for the Cornell study. The packet has been sitting on my desk for almost a month, but his annual checkup was already booked and my weekends were likewise, so I waited. It will get mailed out tomorrow. My vet was all for it - it was kind of funny, because Vet Boy asked me if I "minded" releasing his medical records! Mind, hell! He's a DOG; I don't think TMZ.com will be writing about this, so the confidentiality of his records isn't an issue. So we included the pathologist's report from his diagnosis. It's so weird and sad to see "Prognosis: Poor" in writing.

Because Murphy is doing great; other than a delicate tummy and bouts of gas that can clear a room, he's bright and happy and energetic and his weight is holding at a healthy 7.5 pounds. We walked several miles in the last 4 days, he's playing fetch and eating well and acting much younger than his 9.5 years. I did discuss a doggie calmer for his stress/overexcitement issues, and left with a small quantity of tiny dog generic Xanax. I tested it on him today. Conveniently, Girl and her BF stopped by in their afternoon errands to pick up some extra Christmas decor I don't need. I am most happy to pass along - but Murphy was so thrilled to see them, he screamed like a lunatic and jumped like a maniac, and generally behaved like he'd never had any sort of medication at all. This, after a half tablet had plenty of time to work in his system. Another call to Vet Boy is in order this week. Oh, but I believe it did give him even more gas.

But we had many long walks, and I kicked the crap out of the small, cheap shelf unit in the garage (I mean I actually kicked it to get it to come apart) and it will go out in the trash. Laundry is done, house is decorated, I tested recipes and did some online shopping. And Christmas is just around the corner.