My day, at 8 a.m.
Midnight: Awake.
1 a.m.: Awake. Get up to use bathroom.
2 a.m.: Awake.
3 a.m.: Awake. Dog is shaking her collar. Hope that she doesn’t need to go out, because it’s effing cold in the house.
3:30 a.m.: Dog is whining. Get up, locate bathrobe, think unkind thoughts about roasting a bulldog instead of a turkey for Thanksgiving.
3:32 a.m.: DOG WON’T LEAVE THE FUCKING PORCH. I know it’s like two degrees Fahrenheit out there, but for fuck’s sake.
3:34 a.m.: Dog has left fucking porch after I threatened her with broom to bottom.
3:38 a.m.: DOG WON’T COME BACK IN THE HOUSE. Decide to water and potty self while waiting.
3:40 a.m.: Dog wants to play instead of go back to bed. Effing dog is stuffed into effing crate without effing treat.
3:45 a.m.: WIDE EFFING AWAKE.
3:46 – 4:30 a.m.: Internet.
4:30 a.m.: Wide awake. Bathroom, again. Back to bed. House is bloody freezing and got two degrees colder while letting dog in and out.
5 a.m.: Sleep, finally.
6:15 a.m.: Husband’s alarm goes off. Consider roasting him for Thanksgiving in addition to dog and turkey.
6:50: Husband is waiting for car to finish defrosting and comes inside. Following conversation ensues:
me: The furnace didn’t come on last night. The heat pump ran all night instead and it hasn’t warmed up.
him: Furnace?
me: THE. FURNACE. Downstairs. That big thing next to the hot water heater?
him: It didn’t come on?
me, the one who slept for maybe an hour and a half: YES.
him, the one with a full night’s sleep: Huh.
him: (goes and checks temperature): It’s 55 degrees.
me: I KNOW.
him: It’s set for 59.
me: I KNOW.
him: So…the furnace didn’t come on?
6:52 a.m.: Husband leaves for work. Finds Trollop on porch and brings her in to bed with me, possibly because she is crying on the porch even though she has a heated bed, but probably in retaliation for my explanation of where he could stick the effing furnace.
6:53 – 6:55 a.m.: Pet Trollop. Wish she were always this sweet.
6:56 a.m.: Bitten by Trollop.
7 – 7:15 a.m.: Trollop bathes. Contemplate dinner of roasted turkey, bulldog, husband, and cat, but probably protein overload.
7:16 a.m.: Trollop jumps off bed; I levitate from bed (what enormous belly?) in time to grab her before she pees on anything and stuff her outside. Free Lucy from crate; dog heads straight for back door. Let her out; she stands on porch looking in, all like “This isn’t what I wanted; do you KNOW how cold it is? Lemme back in and I’ll pee on the nice warm floor.”
7:18 a.m.: Stomp outside and start to yell, “GO POTTY!” but words are frozen in my throat and can’t catch breath. Somehow, through skull of concrete, dog gets message and pees three inches away from porch, then streaks back up and inside.
7:20 a.m.: Breakfast for both of us.
7:30 a.m.: Dog comes over and slimes couch with food-encrusted drool.
7:31 a.m.: Dog back in crate. Me back in bed.





