Day Zero Plus Two

I am here, in Paris, with two of my closest friends in the world, along with my bestest doggo and a bonus doggo, and I am not disappointed.

Monday night, I flew over with @martiawilson with Paige and Tori, the two doggos who got to come with me. Milo, Princess, and Sugar had to remain in the States for now. I’ll go back for Milo, my service dog, at the first of next month. Princess and Sugar will hopefully make the flight later this year.



@michelios met us at the airport, and after we sorted rental car issues and tiny car/ginormous luggage issues, we made our way to Argenteuil where our first Airbnb is located. After we found it and hauled ourselves and our things up fifty-four steps to a fourth-floor apartment, everybody just collapsed. Yeah. It was that kind of day. To make matters worse (for me, anyway,) the ibuprofen that came over on the plane with me was Advil PM, and I was too tired to read the bottle. I took four of them, expecting it to be my regular prescription dose of plain ibuprofen. Well, I got a little bonus with that. At double the diphenhydramine dose, I was good for nothing for about two days. Only now, Thursday, am I lucid enough to write a coherent post. While I was sleeping it off, Michel learned to play the piano, toured the Louvre with Martia, and took us both to see the Eiffel Tower...which I almost remember. My advice to anyone reading this? Don’t take four Advil PM at once, folks. Ever. Unless you want to take your chances with a drunken stupor that lasts for days.

My only complaint about France so far? One can’t purchase ibuprofen here--plain or otherwise--and there is no NOS. People who know me know exactly how much I love my NOS. I’ll have to find a suitable replacement. Monster energy drinks just don’t cut it. Red Bull costs a king’s ransom. But I’ll get this figured out eventually. Either that, or I’ll spend the rest of my time in Europe languishing in a full-blown autoimmune brain fog. Not fun, y’all. Not fun at all.

On the grand scale, though, France is everything I hoped it would be. Wonderful climate--the humidity is very low, so even temperatures in the seventies (Farenheit) are comfortable for me. Most of the edema I suffered from at Appalachian altitudes has subsided. We walked and walked and walked last night around the Eiffel Tower and neighboring streets, and overall I managed just fine.

We had a very good dinner at a streetside cafe where the dogs could sit with us underneath the table. The food here is exactly what I expected. For example, fresh fruit is much easier to find and cheaper to buy than the breakfast diet of pop tarts and granola bars I’ve lived on for five years. Eggs are large and fresh and brown, not bleached and warehoused for a month before landing on my plate. It’s a healthier world here, and I hope I reap the benefits of that difference.

But most exciting of all is that the Steemhouse power team is together once more. It was a long seven weeks for me with Michel in one time zone and me in another, six hours apart. We got almost nothing accomplished during that time except putting me on a plane to France. Now it’s time to regroup, refocus, and get this project rolling forward once again.

We look forward to some quiet time in Provence over the weekend, when we can sit with Martia and discuss future plans for the publishing house. She has come on board as one of our managing editors, bringing with her many years of experience as a writer, editor, and poet. We’re hoping to have some big announcements soon, and she will be part of that.

Of course, the dog rescuer in me marvels at the journey the two girls pictured below have made. Both pulled from high kill shelters in Appalachia, both considered worthless by previous owners, both considered “difficult” dogs to place in forever homes, now happy and well-behaved Parisian pups an ocean away from that nightmare. Paige (on the left) was mere hours from being put down when my rescue took her, and Tori (on right) was passed over time and again by “no kill” rescue groups looking for the easy adoptions. Well, she’s adopted now, by Michel, and the best part of her life is just ahead.

More posts to come! So stay tuned...don't sleep through the adventure like Paige tried to do. LOL!

Other Posts in this Series (because this one won't make sense if you haven't read the other ones)

Forty Days
Thirty-Nine Days
Thirty-Eight Days
Thirty-Seven Days
Thirty-Six Days
Thirty-Five Days
Thirty-Three Days
Thirty-Two Days
Thirty-One Days
Thirty Days
Twenty-Seven Days
Twenty-Six Days
Twenty-Five Days
Twenty-Three Days
Twenty Days
Eighteen Days
Seventeen Days
Fifteen Days
Fourteen Days
Twelve Days
Eight Days
Six Days
Five Days
Three Days