My friend's HOUSE is a nice two bedroom with a big front and back yard in a quaint, safe and quiet residential neighborhood, no bugs and a soft bed. :) There are gorgeous, elaborate Xmas lights lining the entire Leave it To Beaver neighborhood!! :) A retired school teacher lives next door. In her own house. Many, many yards away.
The only caveat is that the two dogs I'll be looking after are kind of high maintenance, with the one, Sammie, having an injured foot that needs to have regular medication administered and a trip to the vet this next week (I don't have a car, so Uber, please don't fail me! I have notoriously bad Uber luck, so, hopefully it'll work for me and they'll let me transport a dog in a carrier). The other dog, Lemmy, is very excitable and barks a lot and loudly at little provocation. Lemmy was telling me, he is very sensitive to human feelings and picks up very easily if we're feeling stressed or upset or something and that he then internalizes some of those feelings. I told him I do have a lot of worry and sorrow/stress, but that getting away from the ghetto of DTLA will help. We agreed to try to work with each other and hopefully that I can consciously communicate with them will help. They have a specific schedule that my friend wants me to stick to, so I'll be needing to get to bed strictly by 5-6am, so I can be up by 10am to feed them and let them out. I hope to see if I can fall back asleep afterwards or at some point take a nap during the day in between the times I need to walk them. The two dogs told me they are so stressed out[1] that they cannot always control their excitable behavior and excessive barking. I said, "I know what that's like, I'm in a similar boat," and we pledged to try to understand and work with each other as best we can.
So, the dog's have a lot of excitability and rules and scheduling needs (vet/meds stuff, regularly let out in the yard to go potty so they don't poo or pee inside + walk and play time) BUT I'm out of the ghetto in a clean house in a neighborhood that's safe to walk around in. There are many amenities in the house, like cable TV and a full kitchen, several rooms and a living room with a fireplace and Xmas tree! (except, again, no microwave bc my friend also doesn't believe they're healthy for one's food). So... with the expansive kitchen in mind I bought another vegan turkey for Christmas, some vegan gravy, mashed potatoes (vegetarian) and stuffing (got these at various stores, not Trader Joe's unf). AND I WON'T MIND COOKING AS MUCH!! Lemmy may bark a lot if he smells me cooking but maybe I can stave him off with dog treats. :))) If I can get an Uber to work properly, there's a health food store not too far from here. We'll see if I can pick up anything else.
So, because I won't be downtown (which is far from where I'm staying) and I don't have a car, alas, I will not be going to midnight mass on xmas eve at the Cathedral in DTLA. Instead, I may service a visit to the local Catholic chapel down the street from here on Christmas eve or day, depending on when they offer their services.
[1] Unf there's a lot of regular tension and arguing between my friend and her son, who I suspect has undiagnosed ADHD. He's a bit of a pill and kind of pushes her buttons, stresses her out a lot and the dogs pick up on it and react. Her son is 8 y/o. There's also tensions bwteen my friend and other loved ones in her life. Some of these people don't always treat her well. I've known it for a long time as I've known her for well over a decade and haven't always known what to do or how best to support her. :(
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