Fresh-Brewed Brevities @minkytoad - Tumblr Blog

Tomorrow, my in-laws, SIL, and I are taking my kids camping. It was actually my in-laws’ idea, and we’re going to a campground where they used to take my husband and his sister when they were young. My husband is back at work, so all the parenting duties will be on me for this trip. Luckily, it’s only for two nights. My in-laws were perfectly fine taking the kids while I stayed home since my summer semester started today, but I feel like I need to be there with them. Plus, it’s my kids’ first time camping, and I don’t want to miss that milestone.

Ireland photo dump

Highlights: drank plenty of Guinness, wandered around Temple Bar, visited the Book of Kells and the Long Room Library, did a ghost tour, and saw my first Caravaggio (one of my favorite artists). I may have teared up a little.

Also visited Marsh’s Library, the oldest public library in Ireland.

In Northern Ireland, we saw Giant’s Causeway, walked through the Dark Hedges (the Kingsroad from Game of Thrones), and visited Dunluce Castle perched on the edge of the cliffs. The green landscapes were even better than I expected.

Disappointed we couldn't make it to Belfast because of the riots and unrest. It was a place I especially wanted to visit as a longtime Van Morrison fan.

Overall, Ireland has become one of my favorite countries I've visited.

Goodbye Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Edinburgh was such a beautiful city. I’ll miss walking around it, and I’ll especially miss the view of the castle from my hotel balcony.

Scottish Highlands photo dump 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

It was beautiful out there. I wish I had booked the Isle of Skye trip which would’ve taken me further up north in the highlands. Perhaps one day.

I woke up early this morning and, while my husband slept in, took a walk through Old Town Edinburgh. For a little while, it felt like I had the whole place to myself.

It’s my husband’s first time visiting Europe.

We just got to our hotel, and this was the view of Edinburgh Castle from our balcony.

My kids miss Minky a lot, she was such a gentle dog with them.

Last July, I decided to go back to school and enrolled at a local community college. My original plan was to take classes gradually and ease back into being a student. However, when I entered the program, almost none of my previous undergraduate coursework transferred, only a single statistics class counted toward the requirements.

As a result, I spent this past academic year taking many prerequisite courses just to become eligible for the required classes to eventually submit my application. Many of these courses were science classes with labs, which were more demanding. Although I had intended to take things slowly, by the end of this summer semester I will have completed 26 units. Since 24 units or more is considered full-time enrollment, it has turned into a very busy school year for me.

We brought Minky’s ashes home today. 🤍

This morning, JoeJoe came back inside the house with his front leg shaking and spasming, and he wasn’t able to put full weight on it, so he was limping. I checked his paw to see if it was injured or if something was stuck in it, but I didn’t see anything. So I took him to the emergency vet. We checked in, but there was a long line.

While in the waiting room I had him walk around to check his gait. He was limping, and every so often he would shake his paw. I decided to check his paw again. He has long hair around his paws, so I examined it more thoroughly this time. He didn’t like it and would flinch and try to pull his paw back, so I started to feel like it was more of a paw injury or foreign object rather than a limb injury.

After a while, I felt something nestled deep in his paw pad. I was eventually able to pull it out, it was a pine needle. I put him down, and he immediately started walking normally again, so I told the emergency vet we were going home. I was so relieved.

A few people have told me that sometimes dogs, especially ones who grew up together, tend to pass away within a short time frame of each other. So I was especially worried this morning. I know I’ll still have to get JoeJoe checked out for the intermittent limb weakness he seems to have, which could be anything ranging from arthritis to degenerative spinal or neurological issues. But for now, his paw and leg are okay.

I had recessed overhead lighting put in my reading room a few years ago, and it’s been great. However, I wanted the room to feel warmer and more relaxing, so I decided to add some layered lighting. Little lamps and soft ambient lighting completely changed the vibe. It definitely feels much cozier in here at night now.

My 7YO got the Fortnite Battle Bus LEGO set from “Santa” this past Christmas. We told him to wait for us so we could build it together, but instead he opened half the bags and dumped all the pieces into several bins of random LEGO. Needless to say, I was not thrilled.

So today, I dumped out all the bins and went piece by piece through the chaos. I somehow managed to Frankenstein together half of the bus. The rest of the pieces are still in the numbered bags, so I’ll leave those for my husband and 7YO to build together this weekend.

At this point, I never want to see another Lego piece again.

I think JoeJoe is sad, I think it finally dawned on him that Minky is truly gone.

After Minky passed away, I canceled her dog food subscription on Chewy and memorialized her pet portal. I was really surprised when I received flowers delivered to my house from Chewy. It’s the only company I’ve experienced where, when I call, an actual person answers the phone instead of an automated directory.

Yesterday I watched the Pulitzer award announcement live. I think everyone was shocked by the fiction book winner, Angel Down by Daniel Kraus. His previous book was categorized as horror, so even though Angel Down isn’t a horror book, he wasn’t on anyone’s radar as a potential winner.

I was able to check out the book on Libby right before the winner announcement (there’s a long queue for it now) and will start reading it soon. Apparently, the whole book is written in one long…very long sentence. Perhaps this experimental writing style is what gave it an edge in winning the Pulitzer. I find the whole thing gimmicky, so I really hope the story will be good.

Our family took a quick weekend trip down to Orange County over the weekend. We were attending a birthday party, and I figured we should stay down there for the weekend. I got a really good deal on a 2 bdrms/2baths ocean front hotel. My kids especially liked that our room was right next to the pool.

We also took the kids to the San Juan Capistrano mission since my 4th grader is learning about the California missions in school. We stopped by a baby beach in Dana Point, where they had so much fun playing and swimming.

It was a lot to activities packed into one weekend. It was fun, but I was so happy to be home.

JoeJoe seems almost oblivious to Minky’s passing. A while back, I told my husband it would be best if Minky went before JoeJoe, because if it were the other way around, Minky would have been absolutely devastated.

The day my cat, Hula, passed away, Minky kept searching for her all over the house. She would return to Hula’s bed, waiting to see if she would come back. Eventually, she stopped looking and just lay down on the couch, not wanting to move. She didn’t eat for a full day and even threw up.

I remember how deeply Minky felt the loss of Hula. I feel like maybe this was the gentler way for her to go, so she wouldn’t have to experience that kind of heartbreak again.

Minky and JoeJoe’s first day and last day together.

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