As if Covid isn’t enough to contend with, have you ever had one of those days when nothing seems to go as it should? Where it seems the forces of the Universe are set against anything going smoothly? Yes, it was one of those.
Things happened.

Chaos Rules or Life by Crisis Management
- A friend I haven’t spoken to for over a year sends a message, out of the blue, with only the words, “How are you?” There was no other context to her message and yes it was her – I did check. A little odd or, perhaps, spontaneous. She was just wondering how I was, she said. After a year without communication!
- My daughter rings to make an appointment at a medical specialist doctor and the Receptionist asks her to supply a full length photo for a the appointment. Weird. Full length?
- Three out of three kids then had mini breakdowns of sorts on the same night, unrelated to each other, sending us scampering from one to the next in succession. It was a busy night.
- That same night the neighbour sent me a message at 7pm that he wants to come sit on my garden bench for a while. Did he have a fight with his partner, I wonder? This is out of character. I only saw the message at 9pm whilst scampering to and fro, said kids.

Finally late on the same day as ALL of the above:
We discovered the new pup had eaten the TV remote control, yes, the plastic controller part. The Moth’s favourite activity is to watch television and you can imagine what the Moth said when it became apparent he could not change the channels or adjust the volume. Not to mention the possible harm to the puppy, which resulted in my daughter having to check the poo for remnants of plastic when she walked the dog around our estate, for the next few days.
Not so strange, I suppose, but given that we live in an area where there are lots of tradie workmen building new homes, you have to imagine the strident scene of strange stares and comments when they see a pretty young teen, now adult, picking up dog poo on the footpath, then examining it closely, feeling it and squishing it around in her hands, (inside the doggy poo bag of course)!

It seems the little pup has a penchant for chewing anything. Here’s more evidence of her dental disasters.

And the final piece of news – we have “worms.”
Not in our bodies thank goodness; we’ve merely purchased a batch of garden-variety, soil-improving worms and installed them in their new home at the Home by the Sea.
At least the worms aren’t having a personal crisis or feeling chocked up with plastic remote controls.
“There is no such thing as a problem without a gift for you in its hands. You seek problems because you need their gifts.”
– Richard Bach

Phew! That is a lot of problems to deal with you. Hope next week is smoother sailing. And that you get a new remote very, very soon. 😉
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The Moth sorted it asap, Laurie. It was the first thing on the agenda. In his eyes, life cannot go on without a television!
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You know, with all the wonderful streaming services, I’m pretty much in the same camp. Right now, via Disney+, we are working through the Star Wars Saga. Great to be able to do this. And now you know what nerds we are. 😉
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The Moth would no doubt concur.
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Whoops! That “you” shouldn’t be at the end of the sentence. Those darn typos!
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T’is okay, Laurie. I knew what you meant. I find answering comments on my phone gives me lots more typos.
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Oh, those typos! They drive me crazy.
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What a day! I hope things have settled down. I love the quote from Richard Bach.
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It was one of those days with one thing after the next. I certainly wouldn’t want a whole week of chaos but like bad weather, days like that soon pass. The gift for me in that day was to be grateful the pup was okay and has a resilient gut. I am also grateful for things that I have now put further away out of reach of her jaws!! Lol. Thanks for stopping by. What region of the world are you from? I am in Australia.
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I’m in California. Visited Australia six years ago. Love your country and the people.
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Wonderful that you have been out here to visit, Susan. Your state and our country have similar problems when it some to managing fires.
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Oh my gosh, this post is so funny (sorry) that I laughed out loud through the entire read. I’m sorry you had such a bad night, but you do know how to make the best of it. Thanks so much for playing in Writer’s Wednesday Quotes! Have a much better week, ok?
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Thank you, Marsha. I am glad you like the post. If I can bring a smile or a chuckle to another person’s world, even just for a moment, then the day had been vety worthwhile. I find Blogging can be most cathartic for dealing with life’s surprising turns and twists, don’t you?
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It is indeed, if I can find the humor in it like you did. If I’m bent out of shape to the point I’ve lost my sense of humor, I’d better keep to a private journal or a walk with a good friend where I don’t write it down at all. 🙂
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Private journalling is a great reliever too!
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In a pinch, it does the trick! 🙂
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Sounds like an eventful day. You wouldn’t want one of those every day 🙂
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Certainly not. But of course, every day is not like that. It helps to see the funny side afterwards. And apparently, the neighbour just wanted to come and chat about nothing special.
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Peace to you & your fam. Those days are just so over whelming. Its like when you drop something but the 3rd time you drop it you sit on the floor & cry, its all too much. I float if it all gets too much I imagine myself hanging onto Gods coat tail & just floating through the really tough times. Puppy chewing yay when our Walter was a pup he took to chewing our(over 100yr old been in the family) dining chairs They are still sittable just a little more character added,lol. Have a restoringful peace & joy rest of the week.
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This morning the pup’s destruction extended to the Xmas tree! Gotta laugh and have a little cry here and there. To release the tension.
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It is a shame about the chairs. I like that you said it adds character. Excellent positive spin.
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At least the worms were good news for your garden. 🙂
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Exactly. The Garden had a great day. Lol.
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Wow, that doesn’t sound funny at all at that stage but if you sit down and think about it it could give you time to reload by laughing at all the happenings. Unbelievable that things can gather up and turn on you in force.
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At least I got them over and done with in the one day, Ineke!
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Yes, that was lucky that it didn’t happen many days/evenings. Strange how it never rains but pours.
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I suppose we expect life to be on an even keel, all the time, but in reality, that might be a little boring.
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Haha, boring indeed. That’s why I still keep my eyes and ears open for new daily adventures.
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A great way to live life, Ineke.
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I am still reeling from the mountain of strangeness you find yourself – and yet I can’t help smiling at how you chose to deal with it all.
The Richard Bach (there’s a name I haven’t heard in a while) quote is thought-provoking: “you SEEK problems because you need their gifts”. I will certainly be thinking on this for the rest of the day!
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It is a clever quote that I really needed that day. The longer I live Ju-Lyn, the more peopele surprise me, but the less I am surprised at people. Sounds confusing, but everyone can be a little strange in their own way, so is strange normal?
I feel like I am talking in riddles now, so perhaps I should stop there. Lol.
* it is also the first time I have come across Bach’s quote. Where have you read them before?
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What a day, hope puppy was ok, and hope the MOTH has his remote sorted out. I often miss the days when we turned on the tv with a twist of a knob.
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The puppy – she is so devilishly naughty but oh so playful and cute. Today there was more damage to the Christmas tree and some printer paper. There is some level of carnage each day.
I think getting up to change the channel was a much better way to live. Healthier and it broke that trance like state that often happens when the TV is on. Now with Netflix and binge watching, not even the ads can get you moving. Very unhealthy. And whilst we are at it, Chris. Bring back those washing machines with the dial and pull on mechanism. They never failed, did they?
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I used to love the old round tub washing machine with a wringer attached. In the later models, before they stopped making them altogether, you could set the water to heat, and even let it boil if you chose to. Everyone thought I was bonkers when I bought one in 1976 (a year after I arrived here). If I had it today, and a place in the shed to use it, it would still get used occasionally. Not for everyday washing, but sometimes I’m sure I’d put the white sheets in for a good long boil in nappy san, and I’d certainly use it if I wanted to dye something. I’d hate to be without the automatic washing machine now for everyday washing though. I’ve often given a thought to what our grandmothers would think if they could see us now. Gosh in the house we had before leaving Perth a few years ago, – dishes would be washing themselves, clothes washing themselves, bread kneading itself and then baking itself in the same machine, as we sit out beside the pool (the likes of what was once only in the domain of Hollywood stars), talking on our little mobile phones, or reading our mail on that same phone, mail that was only sent to us from across the world only a moment before. What do you think our grannies would think Amanda.
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That is a good point, Chris. One that would make a good blog post. What would Granny think? I think she might think we must have a life of luxury, then realize that if we didn’t make ourselves new challenges, we would either get terribly bored, or contemplate our navel too much. Neither option is desirable. I am sure however, they would relish anything that helped them in their daily chores.
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Thanks Amanda. I was tired and a bit worn out after a good day and now this. I am officially exhausted
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Time for some good R and R away from the computer. Sometimes it is too much stimulation. A bit like my day. My day today was a little quieter.
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I know it probably wasn’t funny at the time but I just couldn’t help but laugh out loud at your descriptive happenings. I think those kind of days makes us appreciate the boring ones.
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I had hoped to give people a laugh, Southern Patches. Humour doesn’t always translate so it is great to hear that this worked. And whilst it was frustrating, life with the pup is always fun and funny. A good hearty laugh can do some much for our mood. Thanks for commenting.
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Quite a day! If it’s any consolation, your puppy looks super cute!
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Right on both counts, Quite a day and the pupt is very cute, Sarah. She is a good consolation and makes me smile and laugh regularly throughout the day. Last night she was playing with a dog feeding bowl like it was an Olympic curling ball. Ssshing it around on the tiles in and out of chairs. So funny to watch and noisy.
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You’re in what I’ve come to call a 2020 mess! You should know by now, Amanda, that puppies will chew on most anything they encounter – kind of like human babies. When my schnauzer was a puppy, I finally started getting him chew bones. That cured his predilection for latching his little jaws onto anything and everything.
But this pandemic is stressing out people to no end. Because of incompetent leadership, we here in the U.S. have inadvertently created an entirely new class of psychological disorders. I don’t know what the name should be, but as a writer, I’ll come up with something.
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I did warn the Moth to put the remote control out of reach! I don’t like the way they make the rawhide chews but that did satiate her desire to chew, as does Vicks Vapour rub on the furniture.
New pyschological disorders? Is that from having to be locked indoors for so long?
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I think it’ll be something related overall to the pandemic, including self-quarantining, but mainly the general sense the world is out of control. It’s pessimistic to people who either have been sick with the virus and/or lost someone to it and to those who fear it. But it’s frustrating and aggravating to those who believe it’s more of a “plandemic” and are angry their lives have been turned upside down. (A friend of mine actually called it that on Facebook.)
A friend of mine is a counselor working at a hospital in California and he tells me how upset locals are about everything going wrong in their lives. California is still ravaged by wildfires with no end in sight, and the pandemic is just adding to their angst. He’s exhausted and stressed out because of what he hears from people and trying to help them cope with the chaos. Some people, he says, are suicidal. On Thursday, one man became enraged and almost attacked him. Hospital officials had to call police.
Then there are people like me who are struggling financially amidst the madness and wondering how we’re going to make it through the next month or so. Financial and economic anxiety is enough to slaughter anyone’s soul. But it’s happening here on a mammoth scale.
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Gosh, things sound desperate in America and elsewhere where the pandemic is really hitting its straps. I think that loss of control is something quite new for people and they have no skills to deal with that psychologically. Then there is the economic mess that we as individuals have very little control of, generally. This angst will lead to more tragedy and anger. I do hope next year provides a renewal of hope and resilience. Also innovation and optimism. Now we have some ammunition to use against the virus, in the form of a vaccine.
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That does sound like a hectic evening.. It seems all problems are enhanced due to these frustrating covid times.. 😉
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More than likely. Covid sits in the background, Lisa. Have you observed more stress/edginess in your own circle or only the wider community?
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Even myself.. I react grumpy and have to chastise myself.. I certainly don’t want to become a grumpy old woman but yes I think my stress level reactions are certainly loaded..
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You are aware of it. That is the first step in pro-actively dealing with stress.
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Hoop dit is al rustiger daar by jou en dat julle en woef als oorleef het
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Luckily (?) most of the problems were around you and not about you. 🙂 Yes, we’ve had many days where everything goes wrong, but I partly blame that on our challenging lives on those days where the moods aren’t great and where every chore turns into an ordeal that takes longer, doesn’t work out, and becomes frustrating. 😦
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I think you hit the nail on the head mentioning frustrations as the overriding emotion. But I need to keep the perspective that you alluded to, in mind. The things that are happening are around me. This means I can distance myself from them and think logically and soundly about how to react. It is often the knee-jerk reaction that kicks in from our self-preservation strategy that makes the situation so much more volatile. Keeping a cool head is extremely valuable and welcome.
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hey amanda – the worm farms are a great idea
and whew – the chewing is something many of us can relate with – and I know this post is a few months old- so wondering how the pup is dong – hope no health issues from the remote chewing
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Hey Yvette, The worms are doing well and eating up my vege scraps that are excess to the compost. The pup is now 10 months and has even chewed my velveteen chair cushion – several times. She is a bit better but not perfect by any stretch of the imagination. She vomited once after eating the remote but all was good after that. She is nothing but resilient.
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oh wow – moving right along – or should i say growing!
and my son and his fiancé have a new pup (you might already know – they adopted him around Xmas)
and chewing a lot
and i reminded them — as you so well know – it is a lot like having children and the early years are a lot of work but so much bonding and growth and one day they will look back at these days
–
and when our two labs were pups and chewing so much – we got the idea to close off the kitchen and that was their area (we have a large kitchen and never put an island in (had one and sold it because wanted the space )
anyhow – that helped so much and we still helped them meet needs with walks and chew toys etc – but they chewed a school book and that was when we did the kitchen “den” with their two crates – helped with twisting too
anyhow – your pup is adorable
🐾🐾🐾🐾
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