It’s not easy staying positive when the odds are against you – I told G to quit reading the Times Picayune since it was full of bad news and told her I was going to start my own paper filled with hopeful news – she called me Rachel Stroup after that Sheila Stroup woman who writes from the Xanax suburbs of New Orleans – I was trying to input a ton of stuff into the portal and Arlene was chewing herself into a bloody mess – the tail, the paws, it’s horrible! – so I threw her in the tub with medicated shampoo because I couldn’t think, and then my phone rang, and I ran to get it, and it was the housecleaner Ruth, who couldn’t get in because they have put back the security gates, so I was going to let her in, when Arlene jumped out of the tub and started running around the house, so then I was trying to get her when the phone rang again and it was Ruth again saying she had gotten in, and then the tub stopped up and wouldn’t drain. And meanwhile I had set the automatic oven cleaner earlier because the baked ziti had baked into the oven and so when Ruth got here, I kept trying to drain the tub, and Arlene was meanwhile running around, and so then I had to go to the store and get Drano and on the way I saw the guys in front of Brocato’s and I rolled down the window and asked when and they said two weeks definitely – and I cheered – and then went to get the Drano, in line at the grocery Ruth calls and says the smoke alarm is going off because the oven is smoking and Arlene is going nuts. Rush home and got the big ladder out and turned off the smoke alarms and now both Arlene and I need Xanax just to get through this day – now back to the portal.