Is it Friday yet?

No, no, the next one! I'm so ready to leave. It's just been a tough week.

Second interview is slow in the planning as it's hard to pin everyone required to be there down to a single time so that's a little frustrating. It had to be moved back because I had to attend a funeral this week which was very sad. A family friend from church passed away after a long battle with cancer. It was hard because he was our parents' age and both Erich and I grew up knowing him and his family. We haven't seen the family as often in recent years as we did when we were all in Sunday School together but he will be missed. It's just not fair that he should have to leave his family so soon. I was very touched to receive a small gift to remember him by. His wife told us at the viewing that he had made a list of things he wanted given away when he was gone and he wanted me to have a Purdue blanket that he had had for several years and really enjoyed. He thought I would appreciate it since Purdue is where I went to college. She gave it to me yesterday at the luncheon and it is a beautiful blanket that I will keep and think of him when I use it. I remember seeing similar blankets at the bookstores when I was in school and always wanted one so he was very right. I'll have to take a picture of it but I guess the best way to describe it is that it's a woven throw with several campus buildings pictured around the school name.

That was quite enough to handle for one week but we also found out that the dog has allergies. Not nearly earth-shaking news but it will be a chore to get cooperation out of him to take his meds. He had an ear infection awhile back and we've been keeping a pretty close eye on him since then. Yesterday morning his ears were starting to show the signs of another one starting so we got him in today in the hopes that we could catch it early and save Mom and Dad the trouble of dealing with doggie meds while we're on vacation. Turns out he doesn't have an infection but they think allergies instead with the way his ears and skin look plus the way he's been licking his paws and biting at his legs. I guess that's just our luck. Poor buddy got sent home with ear drops and orders to take Benadryl 3 times a day til everything clears up. I guess the good news is that next time this happens they'll let us have the drops without the office visit.

So it's now 7 days and counting for vacation and I work every one of them until then. Glad that we thought ahead and are pretty much ready to go except for some last minute laundry and actually packing up our stuff. The non-essentials are all sitting in the spare room waiting to be bagged up and the clothes will be gathered and packed as next Friday gets closer. Hope everyone else had a more uneventful week and here's hoping that next week goes smoothly!