Suffer the Clutter -- Enjoy the Silence

Happy Memorial Day!

To any military members or family members of military folks who may be reading this, thank you for every sacrifice you've made for the good of the American people.

Since it's Memorial Day, I'm finally able to catch my breath for a second and share some observations and thoughts about my new apartment.

Bailey and I have been living here for over a week now. She has a dedicated food & water spot, but her bed still travels between inside and outside. There are still boxes in the living room. I haven't reupholstered the second dining chair. The dining table is being utilized as a makeshift desk for the time being, as the desk is housing clothes on top and linens underneath until I can acquire the closet organizing system that I want to so I can get everything in its proper place. There is more stuff in my storage unit than I planned on, but some of the stuff I have in there is for my grandmother, when she finally gets to go back into her house. (She's still displaced from the flooding last September.)

The layout of the apartment was a bit different than I expected. The closet that looked like a pantry on the diagram I was given is actually a coat closet. (I'm sure if necessary, I could turn it into a pantry, but for now it's working good as a coat closet, because it's also housing my vacuum and my Swiffer.) My kitchen is also smaller than I was expecting -- I've only got about 3' of counter space, and I have to use my stove top as the place where my dishes dry. The bedroom is a bit bigger than I was expecting -- a queen-sized bed fits just fine in there leaving plenty of room to walk around it, too. The closet in the bedroom is also bigger than I was expecting -- it's got storage space up to the ceiling and the workable space is bigger than the closet I had at home. There are lilacs off my patio, and when the wind blows just right I can smell them. The view from my patio is a house with a huge, country-like backyard, so it feels very familiar. I like to eat breakfast out there on mornings I don't have to rush to the office.

The most immediate and pressing concern is Bailey. At my parents' house, I would leave for work and she'd go into my parents' room and go to bed. They'd be there all day, or most of the day, and when they'd leave she'd be familiar with the place and / or have Pacer there to keep her company. Here, in our apartment, she's faced with different circumstances. I am her only company, and the place is still so unknown to her that when I leave she freaks out. My boss gifted to me a Thundershirt to put on Bailey for when I leave, but it doesn't seem to help. Even the Thunderspray doesn't seem to help -- she whines, then yips, then barks, every time I leave. We go for a 15-20 minute walk around a park every morning and every evening, but it doesn't seem to be helping. (She even defecates between my morning departure and my lunchtime return, and I've started leaving newspapers and waterproof pads down.) I'm going to try to find a television station that plays Westerns because Bailey used to watch them with my parents. Thankfully, I have not received a phone call from the apartment managers, so my neighbors haven't complained to them, but that doesn't mean they aren't complaining. Yesterday, one of my neighbors -- the only one, in fact, who has thus far introduced herself --  told me that Bailey was barking the night before, when I stepped out for dinner with Jake and his mother. She'll yip and whine when I leave, and if she gets quiet at all, she'll bark when she hears one of my neighbors open / close their door, or when she hears a motor out front of the building, so it's hard to pinpoint the motive of her barking if it happens after I leave. I'm considering getting her a bark collar, but I don't know if it would help or not. I definitely don't want it deterring her from barking at all -- if someone knocks on the door, or someone comes in uninvited, I want her to bark. She sometimes barks at me or other dogs during playtime -- Berners are very vocal -- but I don't want her barking without a reason.
I'm sure that Bailey will eventually get over her separation anxiety. She had it pretty bad at home, too, before she got used to the place. It's just going to require patience on my part and the parts of my neighbors. (We've only been here a week. I've only left her four times in that week: once to do laundry, twice for work, and once for dinner.) I know that it's just going to take time, but there are a lot of people who could be missing out on sleep or peace before that time comes. The Thundershirt does help with her social anxiety and general anxiety -- I put it on her a few times when we'd go for walks or to check the mail, and now she doesn't bark at every person she sees. (Just when they're in the vicinity of the building.) I'd also put her Thundershirt on her when the neighbors would get kind of loud -- like coming-home times, or cleaning times. I'd accompany those with a "no" when she'd start to bark at them. I wish I could do the same for her when she yips / barks when I'm not home, but that's not possible. I just don't think there's much more that I can do than I've already done -- the work is now hers. Like a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, I can provide tools and go through exemplary motions to help someone out of a stressful situation, but I cannot actually do the work for that person -- they have to do it themselves.

I've also been struggling with my perfectionism -- I wanted the boxes unpacked and everything in its place before I went back to work. (HA!)
Yes, logically, it would have made my life so much easier if everything was out of the boxes and in its permanent living space before the craziness of my work schedule kicked back in, but that didn't happen. And it still hasn't happened. And it's frustrating. And it's hard to find motivation to fix it -- after all, I am the only one seeing it, so who cares? If it doesn't get done, I'm the only one who has to suffer the clutter. My fireplace is still besmirched with boxes. The little enclave where I was going to put Bailey's bed still has boxes in it. But, I need some shelves in my living room. Perhaps I can fix that this weekend.

Anyway, I need to take Bae out again and get back to Wedditing.
I'll share photos of the apartment once it gets closer to being finished.